
Class £ 

Book ii__ 

Copyright N° 

COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



GATEWAYS TO ART 
AND INDUSTRY 



I 
GATEWAYS TO ART 

.'. AND INDUSTRY.'. 

By OLIVE RUSSELL and ALICE O'GRADY 
Kindergarten Department .'. Chicago Normal College 




/■[V JK 



THE MILTON BRADLEY COMPANY 
SPRINGFIELD • MASSACHUSETTS • 1913 



0\ 






Copyright, 1913, 

By MILTON BRADLEY COMPANY, 

Springfield, Mass. 




DEC 24 1913 ©CLA361392 



FOREWORD 

During the last decade, the kindergarten 
has generally become the accepted first grade 
of public schools, especially in large cities. 

Its recognition demands the development 
of instinctive impulse — emphasis on social 
co-operation and kindliness, and work based 
on active, expressional and appreciative, 
rather than technical, analytic, and receptive 
values in education. Where the work is well 
done, these characteristics have given it a con- 
stantly increasing respect. 

Where the work is neglected or in the hands 
of inefficient or unintelligent people, it suffers 
from criticism a little more than does dishonest 
or unsatisfactory work in higher grades. The 
reason for this is, that it is a newer phase of 
education, that its values must be apprehended 
by an intrinsic standard, and that in some cases 
the young teachers lack the power to adjust 
themselves intelligently and definitely to the 
larger work of the school curriculum. 

This book aims to help both supervisors and 



FOREWORD 



teachers to a more accurate sense of the per- 
spective necessary in the work of the kinder- 
garten, and to the possibilities, both present 
and potential, of the work done. Kindergar- 
ten work should not be pushed up into the 
work of the grades, and the work of the grades 
should not be forced down into the perform- 
ances of little children. Each has its true 
relations to the other, however, and all that is 
done should have its reach onward on the one 
side, and its sense of previous support on the 
other. 

Whenever we find weakness and isolation, 
it should be an incentive to a discovery of true 
connections, rather than an opportunity for 
destructive criticism. Under any circum- 
stances, it is at least a valuable attitude for the 
first adventure into education that the empha- 
sis should be on, "What can I do?" instead of 
"What can I know?" In this development of 
constructive activities the child enters at once 
into an experience where the value of the 
accomplishment has its immediate reaction in 
the result obtained. 



vx 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Introductory ........... i 

PART ONE (Productive Activities) . . . 10 

Section One 

Sorting n 

Introductory II 

Purposes 12 

Method .12 

Materials 13 

Collection of material 14 

Section Two 

Stringing .......... 16 

Introductory .1. •. 16 

Purposes .16 

Materials 17 

Illustrative series 18 

Seed stringing 23 

Material 24 

Comment 26 

Section Three 

Knotting 27 

Purposes ,., . . 27 

Materials 28 

Kinds of knots 28 

Application 29 

vii 



CONTENTS 



Section Four page 

Sewing 3 1 

Introductory . - 3 1 

Purposes 32 

Materials .......... 33 

Method 35 

Illustrative series 35 

Decorative sewing 39 

Free sewing 39 

Section Five 

Weaving 4° 

Method 4° 

Processes 41 

Development 43 

Group work 44 

Section Six 

Drawing 45 

Introductory 45 

Significance 46 

Materials 48 

Movement and method 49 

Standards 50 

Composition 52 

Rhythmic drawing 53 

Insets 54 

PART TWO (Color Work) 56 

Introductory 56 

Environment 57 

Materials 58 

viii 



CONTENTS 



Section One page 

Soap Bubbles 60 

Materials 60 

Method 61 

Section Two 

Painting 63 

Experimental 63 

Free washes 63 

Suggestion 63 

Development of method 65 

Drop painting 66 

Blobbing 68 

Picture making 69 

Section Three 

Crayoning 70 

Materials 71 

Presentation 72 

Playful experimentation 72 

Section Four 

Tissue Paper Work 74 

Color play 74 

Transparencies ........ 75 

Toys 75 

PART THREE (Paper Construction) . . 77 

Historical 77 

Materials 80 

Presentation . 81 

ix 



CONTENTS 



Section One page 

Cutting 82 

Experimental activity 82 

Practice cutting 84 

Suggestions 85 

Section Two 

Strip Work 87 

Method 87 

Suggestive pictures 88 

Unit placing ....... ... . 88 

Section Three 

Free Cutting ......... 90 

Double cutting 91 

Section Four 

Folding 92 

Technique 92 

Illustration of method 93 

Development of series 95 

Aim and possiblities .96 

Frames -97 

Section Five 

Simple Problems ........ 98 

Puzzles 99 

Directions 99 

Envelopes . 100 

Motives and purposes . . . . ™ . .101 



CONTENTS 



PAGE 

Directions 102 

Boat series 105 

Directions 106 

Boxes 108 

Directions 108 

Circular boxes and baskets . . . . .Ill 

Conclusion 113 

Plates 119 



XI 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

Knots Opposite 28 

First Steps in Single Strip Weaving 42 

Color Top No. i " 65 

Color Top No. 2, with Strings instead 

of Peg " 66 

Stringing of Parquetry Circles and Squares . 121 

Tissue Paper Stringing 122 

Development of Paper Link Chains .... 123 

Clay Stringing of Various Forms . . . .124 

Seed Stringing 125 

Knotting 126 

Free Sewing with Shoe Lacings 127 

Free Sewing 128 

Free Sewing Frame 128 

Over-Edge Sewing 129 

Paper Loom Strips Woven In 130 

Advanced Weaving in Variety of Materials . 130 

Posters 131 

Wash in Two Colors 132 

Stripe Painting • 132 

xiii 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



PAGE 

Drop Painting 132 

Color Experience — Parquetry Circles pasted 
as Balloons . 133 

Drop Painting and Stripe Painting Fans . .133 

Toy Plates — Crayoned Units 134 

Pressed Flowers Framed 135 

Painted Transparencies 135 

Strip Pasting 136 

Strip Pasting 137 

Units — Free Tearing 138 

Units — Presented 138 

Sequence of Boats 139 

Folded Frames . 139 

Furniture Construction 140 

Postal Card Envelope 141 

Postman's Bag 141 

Letter Case 141 

Festival Envelopes and Sachets 141 

Cardboard Construction — Baskets and Boxes . 142 



XIV 



GATEWAYS TO ART 
AND INDUSTRY .-. .-. .-. 



The things a child can make 
May crude and worthless be, 
It is his impulse to create 
Should gladden thee, 
Throwing a sacred light 
On each weak putting forth 
Of the child's soul and giving it 
Prophetic worth. 

F. Froebel. 

No better beginning for this little book can 
be found than in these words of Froebel, who 
saw so clearly the value of these weak attempts 
of little children; a value not so clearly esti- 
mated by the average adult, who lacks the 
faith of genius or experience. It is in the 
hope that these early efforts may be more 
carefully nurtured and more clearly recog- 
nized in their relations to future activities that 
these suggestions for the first steps in chil- 
dren's work are offered. 

Many statements which parallel Froe- 
bel's may be found in recent educational litera- 



INTRODUCTORY 



ture; perhaps the best is in the "Child and the 
Curriculum," by John Dewey: 

We do not know the meaning either of the child's 
tendencies or of his performances, excepting as we take 
them as germinating seed or opening bud of some fruit 
to be born. The whole world of visual nature is all too 
small an answer to the problem of the meaning of the 
child's instinct for life and form. The art of Raphael or 
Corot is none too much to enable us to value the impulses 
stirring in the child when he draws or daubs. 

John Dewey, 

The first and most important element in the 
situation is the child's formative impulse — ■ 
"The drawing and daubing, the instinct for 
life and form." This should always be the 
foundation stone of what we do. Any one 
who has watched a little child in the nursery, 
constantly imitating the activities of his elders, 
acting, building, marking, experimenting, al- 
ways busy like a little bird, collecting, chang- 
ing, combining, tearing, will know how strong 
this impulse is, and how very seldom it is sat- 
isfied. 

He is endeavoring to bring to pass some- 
thing in which his idea is too big for his ex- 
pression, and in which he is baffled again and 



INTRODUCTORY 



again by his weakness in technique, and in 
management of material. To help him to prp- 
duce should first be the aim, and secondly, to 
see that his power is always leading out into 
the requirements of orderly and beautiful rela- 
tions. Leading out, — we do not expect to go 
far, but even as the first steps the little crea- 
ture takes in learning to walk are and must 
be in right relation to the laws of health, bal- 
ance, and direction of energy, so his first activ- 
ities in the ordering of material can be based 
on laws which ought to require his obedience 
in all his performances to follow. Propor- 
tion, rhythm, interesting form, joyous color, 
are things which will awaken unconscious 
feelings of delight and satisfaction that can 
be legitimately encouraged. But these things 
are in the teacher's hands and must contribute 
in her to that sense of perspective and growth 
which alone will give dignity and perma- 
nence to her work. It is this insight into possi- 
bilities which the teacher of any grade must 
always keep before her to give her courage 
and true judgment; especially is this true of 
the teacher of little children, — their feeling 
for things is so strong, their interest in action 

3 



INTRODUCTORY 



so marked and their power of definite expres- 
sion so weak. Not only is the power of ex- 
pression weak, but the difficulties which their 
lack of experience and the environment pre- 
sent to them are often insurmountable. Un- 
less they have unusual persistence, after a 
few efforts they give up the unequal struggle 
or have to content themselves with less than 
they designed. A small boy in one of our 
kindergartens brought his mother a bird's nest 
made by him, in his play at home, of grass and 
thread. The thread he had been allowed to 
have if he could reach the tangled part of a 
spool which had rolled away under a bed in 
the sewing room, and he quaintly explained 
that he could have made a better one if he 
could have got some mud from behind the hen 
house. But the nurse in charge said he would 
soil his clothes, — unworthy consideration 
when the small artist is struggling for satis- 
faction, — and yet how often we philistines fail 
to understand. We place so many obstacles 
in the path of the little apprentice of life. 

It was his sympathy with, and his deep 
understanding of, childhood which made 
Friedrich Froebel undertake the task of pro- 
4 



INTRODUCTORY 



viding materials for childish expression and a 
method which should give some support and 
direction without interfering with freedom 
and individuality. 

In fairy tales, those unconscious records of 
the awakening impulse of the race, the hero or 
heroine is never left to perform the task alone. 
The friendly powers of nature or magic, the 
kindly giant or elf, adds wisdom or direction 
which is made fruitful by the force and imag- 
ination of the mortal man or maid. 

So our little folk come to us with questions, 
often with dumb desires for aid. If we can 
give answer to these with just enough response, 
neither dominating nor discouraging, but only 
giving nurture, to use Froebel's wise word, 
how much we may increase the skill and 
power of the children and perhaps steady a 
fleeting impulse into a permanent and valu- 
able interest. 

It is more than seventy-five years since Froe- 
bel gave to education his helpful and suggest- 
ive series of occupations and they have con- 
tributed much to the life and power of child- 
hood. During these years, however, great 
advance has been made in artistic and indus- 

5 



INTRODUCTORY 



trial work; much of this new impulse as it 
found its way into the schools was due to the 
emphasis the kindergarten placed on learn- 
ing with the hands. Indeed, as we know, 
Cygnaeus,the originator of Sloyd,was indebted 
to the study of Froebel's work for the concep- 
tion of his idea, and Sloyd was the foundation 
of our present manual training movement 
which is now broadening to include a really 
vital relation to life. But it is time the new in- 
sights gained should in turn reorganize the 
work for little children, testing it by standards 
of art and simple fundamental expression; 
faithfully preserving those principles that are 
vital, and reconstructing what is found want- 
ing. 

This is what the authors of this little book 
have endeavored to do. They offer these sug- 
gestions as the result of study and experiment, 
and have tested all that is here set down 
in actual work with children. They have not 
desired to give anything startlingly new or in 
radical departure from the past, but rather to 
bring the past into a more real and useful 
harmony with the present. 

In order to make this clear a little space will 
6 



INTRODUCTORY 



be given here to a few general points which 
will be universally applicable in all the work 
taken up. 

The principles of continuity and variety are 
fundamental and the material used is suggest- 
ive and simple. 

All contributions should be the result of 
interaction of teacher and children as a group, 
although each child should work out his con- 
tribution by himself through discovery and 
experiment. The teacher expands, encour- 
ages, and when necessary through her expe- 
rience adds a richness to the situation which 
would have been lacking if the children had 
worked alone. She must also by her selection, 
by her emphasis and by her own work make 
a standard for comparison and stimulation. 

In all the work the relation of feeling to 
beauty must be kept in mind. Color, arrange- 
ment, proportion, rhythm, and repetition are 
the elements which make this appeal to joy 
and unconscious pleasure; unconscious, in that 
the child does not realize the source of it. 
The teacher, however, must be conscious in 
her appreciation and selection according to 
these principles. And nowhere can she make 

7 



INTRODUCTORY 



this more effective than in her selection of 
materials. A simple thing can be made inter- 
esting and beautiful by the texture, color, suit- 
ability of the material used ; by the proportion, 
arrangement, and true relation of even the 
simplest decoration. Too much emphasis 
cannot be laid on the value of this point. 

Steps of relation or growth must always be 
felt in the work; but instead of the long and 
tedious schools of work planned by Froebel, 
short and interesting series are presented, each 
leading to a climax in some result worth while. 

The types of play or play-forms in the work 
are experimental, manipulatory, constructive, 
or productive, and many have a special em- 
phasis on sense-exercise or sense-play. The 
joy of using pretty things, arranging them and 
getting new sensations out of them combined 
with a slowly growing feeling of the possibili- 
ties of material and the defining of purposes 
for its use. 

Through repetition of activities in new ma- 
terials, new sizes, new colors and new com- 
binations practice is given leading to a little 
more skill. 

And through these types of variety encour- 
8 



INTRODUCTORY 



agement is given to originality, or at least to 
individual expression of possibility. 

In all this work, also — though it is for the 
kindergarten, and in harmony with all the 
work done there — the relation to the primary 
school has been preserved and it forms a nat- 
ural and logical beginning for the work to 
follow. 



9 



PART I PRODUCTIVE ACTIVITIES 

The work as outlined begins with the series 
for the first year children and continues 
through to the end of the second year. The 
order in which any work is given will indicate 
how the steps should follow one another. 
In every instance the simplest types of work 
will come first, gradually becoming more dif- 
ficult. 

The handwork taken up in this book will 
include the following: 

Sorting, Drawing, 

Stringing, Color work, including: 
Knotting, Painting, 

Sewing, Crayoning, 

Weaving, Blue Prints, 

Paper and construe- Transparencies, 
tion work, 

The plan of the work is sufficiently obvious 
to proceed without further discussion. 



10 



SORTING 

SECTION I SORTING 

Introductory. S ° rting ' S rou P in g or classifying 
of objects according to interest- 
ing or distinctive qualities is one of the most 
natural of a small child's activities. It is a 
part of his interest in getting the names of 
things, and we all know how often the ques- 
tion is on a child's lips— what is this? What 
do you call this? His world must be distin- 
guished or pigeon-holed in some way and he 
follows very closely the history of the race 
when he unconsciously desires to take that 
first step in gaining power over a thing by 
getting its name, thus ordering it into its place. 
In the "Education of Man," there is a most 
interesting section devoted to the discussion 
of sorting, but like many of Froebel's sugges- 
tions for the use of informal or unconventional 
material it has been too little regarded. It is 
used as merely incidental to something else, so 
that its larger purposes and educational value 
have not been studied. "Education of Man," 
Section 38. 



11 



PRODUCTIVE ACTIVITIES 

The following are the purposes of 
Purposes. 

Sorting: 

Distinguishing kinds through 

i. Naming, 5. Texture, 

2. Color, 6. Weight, 

3. Size, 7. Number or idea, 

4. Form, 

or to make interesting groups and arrange- 
ments. 

, With each sorting; exercise much use 
Method. , , . a , 

of language in names and action- 
words and many sense-plays should be de- 
veloped. 

The sorting with the younger children 
should be often a separate exercise, and with 
the older children used in connection with 
other exercises. The walks taken by the older 
children will give them opportunity to collect 
things for the sorting boxes. Small stones, 
seeds, leaves, almost any object that possesses 
some quality which gives it interest in chil- 
dren's eyes is suitable. While not every- 
thing can be accepted, that is, we cannot keep 
a ragbag or scrap heap, the range of choice, 
especially at first, should be fairly wide. In 
12 



SORTING 



time the children's eyes open to the idea of 
collecting and their judgment of what is suit- 
able can soon be cultivated. 

First sort only for name. Then select some 
distinguishing quality. In general, follow the 
order given, though sometimes two or three 
of these interests may well be used together. 

Always end the exercises by encouraging 
expressions in use and arrangement, being sat- 
isfied at first with laying in rows. Use con- 
trast — for instance, next to a row of large 
things lay a row of small things, and select 
from spontaneous suggestions offered by the 
children a simple advance. 

Materials for sorting are of two 
Materials. t . * , . , , t , 

kinds which may be roughly 

designated as formal and free. The more 

formal material consists of 

Beads, wooden, 

Colored papers. 

Colored pegs — large sticks of different 
lengths, 

Balls, blocks, cylinders, boxes, baskets or 
other objects of these shapes, 

Spools, 

Button molds, 

13 



PRODUCTIVE ACTIVITIES 



Pictures, 

Colored papers, silks, any attractive colored 
materials, 

Small bells or other objects which suggest 
interesting activities or qualities. 

In free material : 



Shells, 


Nuts, 


Stones, 


Pods, 


Seeds, 


Leaves, 



The play element in these exercises consists 
in the experiment involved, in the many sensa- 
tions enjoyed by the children and in the va- 
riety and combinations of the materials used. 

Sometimes end the lesson with a definite 
sense-play, blindfolding the children, thus 
isolating sensations. 

In collecting material let the 

ofSrial. children contribute. It is well to 
keep the sorting material in boxes : 
baking powder cans or a small cake or 
despatch box. A small screen, about three 
feet high, made of coop wire in a wooden 
frame, makes it possible to take care of boughs, 
branches, leaves or berries, nests, burrs, seed 
pods, and things which it is not convenient to 
14 



SORTING 



keep on the walls of the room. The children 
in this way learn to connect the larger aspect 
of the object with the same thing used in 
sorting or afterwards in stringing or in other 
attractive ways. 

Milkweed pods, barberry and bayberry 
branches, burdocks and thistles, colored leaves, 
branches of nuts, branches of seeds such as 
ash, or catalpa pods and any winged seeds, 
alder berries and rose haws will be very inter- 
esting and beautiful used in this way. 

At any of the parks, gardeners will give to 
any teachers who go there in the Fall, many 
interesting pods for the asking. A day or 
two in the country or the ravines and sand 
dunes in the suburbs, in the Spring or Fall 
will provide much. Friends can be enlisted 
in service of collecting for the schools. Small 
boys for a few cents will bring in baskets of 
nuts or acorns and through getting some or all 
of these avenues open, a sufficient supply may 
be obtained. 



15 



PRODUCTIVE ACTIVITIES 



SECTION II STRINGING 

Stringing has in many instances 
ory. k een a iio W ed to fall into a 
mechanical and uninteresting occupation 
through the constant repetition without va- 
riety and through the use of commonplace 
and unbeautiful combinations and materials. 
It has, however, great possibilities and is a 
valuable occupation for children, as the 
activity is so easily mastered, and the ar- 
tistic opportunities and interesting and child- 
like uses so many. But the teacher must 
remember that growth ceases when active at- 
tention is no longer required, and that only by 
change or variety, or by the opportunity being 
given to the pupil to suggest and arrange new 
combinations, can this work be made of real 
value. 

The purposes of the occupation are 
' the making of interesting things and 
the application of artistic possibility to actual 
and childlike situations. 



16 



STRINGING 



Materials. 

Wooden beads, 

Straws, 

Clay beads, 

Clay disks, 

Tissue paper, 

Beans, 

Corn — blue, yellow 

and red, 
Watermelon seeds, 
Muskmelon seeds, 
Cranberries, 
Raisins, 
Popcorn, 
Allspice, 



Rose hips, 
Sunflower seeds — 

and small, 
Burdock burrs, 
Checkerberries, 
Holly berries, 
Bittersweet, 
Acorns, 

Horse chestnuts, 
Tree seeds, 
Leaves, 
Daisies, 
Clovers, 
Barberries, 
Lilac blossoms. 



large 



Small peppers, 

This leads over into combinations with tying 
and knotting, and the braiding of clover chains 
and combining with flower pods in nature 
play. Short series for stringing are here given 
in order of difficulty chiefly as an illustration 
of the development of a few steps. It is to be 
understood that these series are not arbitrary, 
only illustrative; many others could be de- 
veloped on the same principle. 



17 



PRODUCTIVE ACTIVITIES 



NO. I BEADS FOR COLOR— COMBINE WITH 
SORTING : 

Illustrative 
Series. 

A. All colors, 

B. One color, 

C. One color and white, 

D. Another color, 

E. This with the first color or white, 

F. Another color, 

G. Choice of any combination from these. 

SERIES BASED ON FORM 

A. Any form, 

B. All one form, 

C. All another form, 

D. Combine in any way desired. 

SERIES WITH NUMBER AS A BASIS 

A. One and one. Any two selected forms 
and colors. 

B. Two and two, 

C. Three and three, 

D. Combine one and two, 

E. Combine one and three, 
18 



STRINGING 



F. Any interesting combination suggested 
by the children. 

Use thin laces for these and in general use 
the strings decoratively in the room. 

In stringing with straws use waxed lemon- 
ade straws, five hundred in a box, at thirty- 
five cents a box. Cut into the desired lengths. 
These are better than the ready cut straws. 
Use papers of soft colors, the same on both 
sides at first, if possible. After cutting is 
begun, the older children may sometimes cut 
for stringing later or cut papers for the smaller 
children to string (see cutting). Also they 
may paint their own papers for use in string- 
ing (see painting). Use No. 23 crewel 
needles. Long, thin darning needles may be 
used for the older children. Both kinds of 
needles have long, large eyes. 

SERIES OF STRINGING WITH STRAWS 

A. Circular papers, straws of equal length, 

B. Square papers, straws of equal length, 

C. Circular papers, straws of unequal 
length alternated, 

D. Same with square papers, 

19 



PRODUCTIVE ACTIVITIES 



E. Circular or square papers with groups 
of shorter straws spaced by longer ones, 

F. Develop many interesting ways of group- 
ing equal and unequal lengths of straws. 

SECOND SERIES OF THE SAME 

Straws with papers cut into flower-forms 
from sheets made by the children in painting 
(see painting section). Do not go too fast. 
Use equal straws first. Develop the spacing 
and grouping, with interesting flower and geo- 
metric forms. 

This second series of straws and papers 
would be for the older children. 

SERIES WITH TISSUE PAPER 

Circles of tissue paper, two and four inches 
in diameter. Put over the index finger, crush 
together, string. 

Do the same with square or oval paper. 
String in wreaths or bunches. 

If used in the Spring choose delicate colors 
with green. In the Fall, orange, purple, red 
and rich yellow with brown. Of course, 
whenever possible at the time the stringing is 
being given, groups of flowers providing these 
20 



STRINGING 



combinations should have previously been 
placed in the room. Asters or goldenrod, 
nuts or berries in the Fall. Daffodils, tulips 
or hyacinths in the Spring. Perhaps there is 
no time when the color sense of the children 
may be so naturally developed as in these con- 
nections with the soft color harmonies of 
nature. 

Sometimes in this stringing combine the 
papers with straws. Short lengths give the 
best result, but experiment. Combine with 
beads. Cut the papers in rose forms. Use 
two or three shades. String on dyed raffia 
with a coarse needle. 

There are so many interesting developments 
that suggest themselves that it would be im- 
possible to indicate them all. 

SERIES OF PAPER LINK CHAINS 

A. Make paper rings of different sizes for 
hoops, bracelets, finger rings, etc., 

B. Make separate rings and string on cord, 

C. Make paper links equal in width and 
length, linking them together, 

D. As facility is gained, refine the widths 
of the links used, 

21 



PRODUCTIVE ACTIVITIES 



E. Make the links longer, 

F. Alternate short and long links, 

G. Use graduated links. 

Last cut on line double links, putting to- 
gether with the fingers. Another simple 
paper decoration in fringe fashion is made 
by folding tissue paper strips about three 
inches wide into several folds and making 
cuts alternately from opposite sides to the 
center. Unfold and shake out. 

SERIES OF CLAY BEADS AND DISKS 

A. Make clay beads. String on a stick, 

B. Clay beads on a string, 

C. Clay beads. Make a hole through, dry, 
paint, string, 

D. Clay disks. String, 

E. Clay disks. Punch a hole through, dry, 
paint, string, 

F. Beads and disks, 

G. Cylindrical forms treated the same way^ 
Combine with disks. 

Small pieces that are left over may be 
pinched, rolled, or twisted into quaint forms 
that may be attractively strung. 

22 



STRINGING 



SEED STRINGING 

Beans of different sizes, forms and colors 
offer the most satisfactory material for the first 
seed stringing. Soak the beans before string- 
ing and allow the children to pierce them in 
any direction they wish as this will give a 
much greater variety than if the beans are pre- 
sented pierced by the teacher. 

Only experiment will decide how long the 
different types should be soaked, but care must 
be taken that they are never used while there is 
an odour, and they must always be properly 
dried, though not dry, before being used by 
the children. 

The attractive value lies not only in the 
use, but in the whole circumstance of their 
presentation. 

In this stringing, the interest is along the 
line of arrangement and color and form, 
rather than simply activity. In other words, 
the emphasis on the esthetic factor is stronger 
because of the enjoyment and experience the 
children have had in the pure stringing of 
more formal material. It is more legitimate 
here not to mix kinds of material. That is, 
the spacing should be by means of knotting, 

23 



PRODUCTIVE ACTIVITIES 



rather than by the use of straws, beads, or 
other artificial material. 

Peas do not make good material for com- 
plete strings. They should be used more as a 
period, simply to end a series which will then 
be repeated. This will also add an interesting 
touch of color and the same is true of any 
small seeds. From this time combinations 
should be made and the teacher should see 
that these are interesting and beautiful. 

Some of the following are good: 
. Rose hips and sunflower seeds, 

Burdock burrs and watermelon or 
checkerberry, 

Sunflower and bittersweet or small peppers, 

Job's tears and checkerberries. (Job's tears 
may be obtained at any seed store for a small 
price). 

Varieties of nuts are better alone. Because 
of the difference in shape, size and color, one 
kind will give much effect of variety. 

Also the use of knots must not be forgotten, 
as, for instance, an acorn, a knot, a cup, a knot 
and so forth. 

One interesting experience for the children 
in making these strings is the contrast in 
24 



STRINGING 



weight, some being so heavy, others so light, 
and some becoming so light after drying. 
The drying of the seeds also changes their ap- 
pearances, giving them sometimes a carved or 
mosaic quality which is a new beauty. 

The material on which the seeds are strung 
is like the background of a picture. It may 
add to or detract from the interest. 

The following material may be used: 

Twist, D. M. C. cords and cot- 
Raffia, tons, 
Druggist's string, Soft colored threads. 
Macrame cord, 

Care should be taken that the weights and 
color of these materials are suited to the type 
of nature material to be strung. 

In these materials there is much for the 
teacher to develop further, as, for instance, in 
the double stringing, so well worked out in 
"Organized Stringing" (Pub. by National 
Kindergarten College) which is often very 
beautiful, and makes good work for the pri- 
mary children. 

A word may be said here in comment on 
the stringing of seeds. In the early days of 

25 



PRODUCTIVE ACTIVITIES 



kindergarten organization when there existed 

a certain sentimental, over-subjec- 
Comment. . . ' , , *, 

tive attitude towards nature study, 

animism was foolishly emphasized. All sorts 
of fanciful suggestion was given to the chil- 
dren, and a rather morbid and unreal em- 
phasis placed on the life element and per- 
sonal feeling of natural phenomena; any 
artistic or constructive use of seeds, leaves 
or flowers was considered at least unmoral, 
if not immoral. With a more scientific 
and sympathetic understanding of child-life, 
we have come to realize that this premature 
awakening of responsibility and subjective 
appreciations of other life, is the unmoral 
thing. While the childish animism is very 
real, very strong, and important, it is based 
on a sense of joyous companionship and 
affection which is thoroughly objective. It 
does not include the perplexities of im- 
puting inner moods, pains or distresses (of 
which the child himself has little realization) 
to this friendly world. Therefore the ele- 
mentary sympathies are isolated when any 
object in nature is used in beautiful, interest- 
ing or constructive ways. The only immoral 
26 



KNOTTING 



use of it is in wanton destruction or purpose- 
less activity. A watermelon party in the Fall, 
after which the seeds are carefully collected, 
washed and dried for future use in stringing 
or pasting, is a much more wholesome and 
educational experience in child-life than any 
length of sentimental talk or story making of 
the reproductive cycle of seed-life. 

SECTION III KNOTTING 

Knotting has been referred to sev- 
Purposes. , .. . .,. , , . . 

eral times in this work and it is 

an occupation full of possibility. It arises 

naturally from the need of tying hangers in 

small picture frames, or in tying sheets for 

a book. For the child it is not a matter of 

decoration but something required. He gets 

the experience and it is then applied to other 

situations. The teacher, conscious of the 

possibilities in the new activity, makes them 

decorative and regulates them, so that they 

offer progression to more beautiful uses and 

more difficult and interesting tyings. 

The materials used are: 



27 



PRODUCTIVE ACTIVITIES 



Cable cord of different weights 
and plies, 
Couching cotton, 
Cotton clothes line, 
Twine and druggists' string, 
Yarns, 
Silk cord, 
Cotton cord, 
Seine cord, 
Silkaline, 
Colored shoe-strings. 

The knots used are of these kinds 

K^ts° f only * The sim P le knot > overhand 
and for older children, the flat knot, 
and single and double bow knot. Combina- 
tions of these can be used; for instance, one 
way that the little children can tie a large 
knot is by making a single knot and tying on 
that other single knots. Another simple knot 
is made by tying below the knot instead of 
on top of it. This makes a long knot rather 
than a round one. (These knots are illus- 
trated in the accompanying diagram and 
plates.) A good way to begin this long 

28 




Knots. 



i. Single knot overhand. 4. Single bow knot. 

2. Same with double thread. 5. Double bow knot. 

3. Flat knot. 

See plate for long knots, etc. 



KNOTTING 



knot is to tie a large glass or wooden bead in 
the first knot. These beads should be occa- 
sionally introduced with the knotting, using 
only one or two of these, however, and for 
spacing only. The thread may also be put 
twice through the knot when tying, thus 
making the larger knot. 

_ ,. x . It will be readily seen how the 
Application. , . , 1t , . -it 

knotting will combine with the 

stringing as a means of spacing. A simple 
method of making the double knot at first is 
by leaving the loop in two overhand knots 
and then tying these two together. The knot- 
ting should be applied in the following ways 
as well as in the stringing and the making of 
knotted necklaces : 

Cords for fans, prisms, trumpets, kites and 
caps, 

Hangers for frames, 

Whistle cords, 

Scissors cords, 

Cords for the triangle, 

Cords for fringe or bags, 
and any other simple practical use. 

In the heavier cord, drum chains, reins, and 
jump ropes form the best uses. For these 

29 



PRODUCTIVE ACTIVITIES 



cotton clothes line of medium weight, obtain- 
able at ten cents the piece, should be used. 
One piece will make half a dozen children's 
skipping ropes. For handles use wooden 
spools of the largest size painted or dyed. 
Such crude material allows very crude results 
that are satisfactory; for instance, the chil- 
dren can decorate them in various ways with 
bands or splashes of color and they will look 
well. An interesting way to make many of 
these things is through group work. Two 
children can work together in the cross-tying 
of knots. Two heavy cords are laid crosswise 
on each other at right angles. The opposite 
ends of the under cord are tied over the upper 
cord. Continue the process. These materials 
should sometimes be dyed before using. Then 
pretty, bright combinations of color can be 
used and a very attractive rope is the result. 

In this work of knotting as in all other work 
there is much yet to be contributed, and each 
teacher should be constantly alive to the new 
opportunities that present themselves. 



30 



SEWING 



SECTION IV SEWING 



Introductory, N ° doubt man y critics wiU cast 
suspicious eyes on this section of 

this outline with the recognition that it needs 
much courage and presumably much pre- 
sumption to suggest sewing for young chil- 
dren after the many objections to its use. 

The history of kindergarten sewing begins 
with the complicated and unsightly work of 
forty years ago. This was done with violent 
colors on white cards pricked with small holes 
and the series dragged its slow length through 
patterns of minute variety. And yet, in spite 
of all its faults, children enjoyed it and often 
produced patterns of their own that were 
varied and interesting. However, under the 
merited criticism of its faults, it gradually dis- 
appeared and was either thrown out alto- 
gether, or so much modified that one could 
not recognize the work of early days. Where 
it was done the cards were larger with large 
holes and the color softer and more pleasant. 
Many other materials were used. The work 
became much simpler and more childlike, and 
the difficult and distressing sewing of crude 

31 



PRODUCTIVE ACTIVITIES 



and unsuitable pictures was given up alto- 
gether. Gradually in the schools where even 
the modified sewing was not used, another 
type was taken up; the sewing of cloth with 
needles and thread, and in this many experi- 
ments were tried. Iron holders, mittens, 
dolls-clothes, mats and other things were made, 
but these too, in time, were discarded. 

The work in general was too small and fussy 
to be of use with young children and the ma- 
terial unsatisfactory and without perspective. 
But still the interest in sewing remained and 
a certain value is recognized, that can be sup- 
plied in no other way. 

It offers an educational and social 

PlUDOSGS 

opportunity combined that is worth 
while. Being a form of work which is used 
almost entirely for the older children, the in- 
terest in the activity is less immediate, and it 
gives opportunity to show the growth the 
child has made in earlier experiences. This 
is evidenced through his power to handle new 
work, and in his appreciation of choices in 
form, color, and material. There should be 
no sewing until during the second year and 
that should begin with free winding. 
32 



SEWING 

Many people feel that sewing is a long 
process, but it should be taken only as a short 
stage; it should be introductory rather than 
actual, and thus make a beginning for the work 
in the primary school. 

The materials used for this sewing are: 



Materials. 




Strawboard, 


Felt, 


Cardboard, 


Ticking, 


Constructive paper, 


Kindergarten cloth, 


Galatea, 


Oilcloth. 


Threads used: 




Corset laces, 


Warp cord, 


Shoe lacings, 


Jute, 


Heavy wool, 


Raffia, 


Germantown, 


Cable cord. 


Various weights of D. 


M. C. cotton, 





All these in attractive colors. And a word 
of suggestion might be given here. Every 
kindergarten teacher should familiarize her- 
self with simple processes in dyeing. Nowa- 
days with the easy dyes and the Diamond dyes, 

33 



PRODUCTIVE ACTIVITIES 



she can experiment with great success and her 
experience and discoveries will be of the 
greatest value in her work. Many inexpens- 
ive materials can be made beautiful through 
dyeing, and also it will put the materials in 
her hands in endless variety. 

The punches to be used in preparing the 
work are the following: Different sized stil- 
ettos. The best size is one quarter inch, ob- 
tainable at any hardware store for from ten 
to twenty-five cents each. A good set punch 
such as the adjustable gauge punch which can 
be set to any size. Carpenters' awls and a 
score punch may also be used. 

A very simple but practical punch can be 
made by running a ten-penny nail through a 
cork that is about an inch thick. This cork 
makes a satisfactory handle. The hole made 
by any of these punches, except those which 
cut the hole out, will be rough on the under 
side. This may be corrected either by shov- 
ing the punch through again from the reverse 
side or by giving the children pieces of sand- 
paper with which they can rub the surface; a 
process which they will enjoy. 

It is impossible, at present, to get cards 
34 



SEWING 

punched in a desirable way. The teacher 

should punch the cards herself in the form 

required, as this only will give the spacing, 

size and variety necessary. 

m , , The cards should be not less than 
Method. n . . ,. • i t i 

five inches in diameter with holes 

half an inch from the edge. Begin with 
cards of strawboard or other cheap material 
and let the children experiment sewing over 
or through the edge with colored corset or 
shoe laces. This can develop into ambi- 
dextrous sewing — that is, sewing with two 
threads through one hole from opposite sides 
of the card. From these, and the single 
sewing, many suggestions will develop and 
these can be selected, emphasized or organ- 
ized and then applied to various uses, such as 
frame, clock face, needle-book, match scratch- 
es, safety-pin holders, and so forth. When 
they are organized and repeated the better 
cards of soft and attractive colors should 
be used, with the different threads suggested 
in the list given above. 

Also these patterns should be se- 

SS£ ative " lected in order of difficulty so 
that a little sequence should be 

35 



PRODUCTIVE ACTIVITIES 



developed, leading to increase of power and 
a sense of growth and relation. For this 
reason, after the experimentation, one pat- 
tern should be selected and repeated on a 
better card. After this let the children vary 
this pattern on the next card if they desire, 
and so on. Sometimes the teacher can sup- 
ply an idea for a stitch when she sees the 
opportunity. Different stitches will sug- 
gest different uses. Long and short stitches 
will suggest the clock face. Crossing stitches 
at the edge of the card leaving a larger space 
in the center — the frame: a pattern which cov- 
ers more of the card, a needle case; and so on. 
The following series of steps is suggested as 
an example. 

Material: 

Strawboard with or without a needle, twine. 
Cards (five inches in diameter), punched half 
inch from the edge and evenly spaced. 

The children would have had some winding 
and the ambidextrous sewing. 

With this series the first step would be: 

i. Over the edge, 

2. Same with return giving the cross stitch, 

3. A choice of these on better card making a 
36 



SEWING 

frame. Opportunity for choice between two 
materials and for sewing with or without 
needles, 

4. Sewing around the circle with a needle 
giving open stitch, 

5. Returning, filling the stitch, 

6. Choice of combination of any stitches al- 
ready used, 

7. Two circles on the card, 

8. Experimentation from this, 

9. Selection of a satisfactory pattern, made 
into an interesting object, 

10. Same pattern on an oval form, or repeat 
on other forms of cards if desired. 

These may be applied to square and oblong 
cards having the corners free and using many 
varieties of long and short stitches. But this 
suggestion must be left to the discretion of the 
teacher. Sometimes she may supply a pattern 
of this kind. Sometimes there will be oppor- 
tunity for developing it from the accidental 
discoveries of the children. 

Gradually the same stitches can be applied 
to other materials and more permanent uses 
such as the following: 

Various kinds of bags and pockets with 
the over and over stitch at the edge. 

37 



PRODUCTIVE ACTIVITIES 



Cross-stitches and the open stitch may also 
be used. For the cord, knotting may be used, 
running the cord both ways (see illustration). 
Girdles for these bags may be made from the 
knotting and sometimes fringes may be tied 
in at the lower edge of the bag. 

These bags may be for various uses accord- 
ing to the material chosen — purses, marble 
bags, etc. The crossing stitch may also be 
used on pen-wipers, mats and holders. 

In making these, the points with regard to 
artistic results and suitable materials for use 
and purposes must not be forgotten. Also the 
possibilities of the simple stitches applied. 
The practice is in the stitch on the card. The 
regularity of the holes gives a sense of accu- 
racy and neatness, defines the stitch and shows 
readily the variety possible. The sewing of 
the materials should be the end worked to- 
wards, and should not be given too soon or too 
quickly. It should register the independence 
and freedom the children feel in working in 
this more permanent way. 

If there is trouble over it, it is being given 
too soon. It has, of course, definite relations 
to the activities which follow in the grades. 
38 



SEWING 

Striped and checked materials are good for 
this later work, as the stripes and the checks 
suggest the place for the stitches; in many 
materials, holes may be punched as in cards 
and in some the children may snip out small 
openings. 

At the same time that this sewing 

Sewin atlVe 1S USec *> ^ e decorative sewing on 
the cards should be continued as a 
kind of picture making, using other varieties 
of cards. 

The laying of animal and flower-forms in 
simple straight lines with sticks may be readily 
carried over to this card-sewing, and is full of 
suggestions, both esthetic and practical. 

Free sewing has been referred to and 
g 6 . can be worked out into many inter- 
esting series. Madam Kraus Boelte's 
book "Sewing without a Needle," published 
by Steiger, will give all the directions neces- 
sary for this work. Some of the free sewing 
precedes the sewing with a needle and these 
together give a type of sewing from which 
the weaving develops. 



39 



PRODUCTIVE ACTIVITIES 



SECTION V WEAVING 

A very simple loom results naturally from 
the sewing, as the circular card provides the 
loom, and the reinforcement of the edge the 
under and over stitch. 

A circular card, six inches in di- 
ameter, should be used, equally 
spaced with sixteen cuts, half an inch deep. 
One cut between any two cuts gives the odd 
warp string necessary. 

A simple way to begin the work is to use 
the punched hole card and let the children 
cut from the edge to each hole. Wind the 
cord across the card into each cut, then with 
the cord as the weaver begin in the middle and 
weave over and under around until the edge 
is reached. Tear off the card loom and add 
decoration and strength by using any of the 
former stitches in sewing over the edge. For 
the loom use strawboard and for material use 
cords of different weight or different kinds 
of raffia. The little mats when taken off may 
be used for many different purposes, such as 
table mats, holders, baskets, bags, etc. 

They should be done several times with dif- 
40 



WEAVING 



ferent materials and for different purposes 
that the child may gain skill and dexterity. 

On this same principle, very interesting 
frames may be worked. Take a six inch 
circle. From the center of the card, cut a 
three inch circle. Proceed as before, only 
that in this, the cuts are on both sides of the 
circular frame. Wind through the cuts and 
reinforce the edge, but do not take the card off. 
One or two colored threads may then be woven 
in. These frames may also be made on an 
oval card with an oval opening. After the 
frame is finished while doing the reinforcing 
stitch at the edge, the strings may be carried 
across the back, making the support for the 
picture. 

The backgrounds supplied by the cards for 
these frames must be considered here, as they 
enter into the decorative scheme and many 
different stitches may be worked out. 
^ In the weaving in these frames, let 

the color, rather than the introduction 
of two different kinds of weaving materials, 
provide the note of variety. And the con- 
trast between background and weaving mate- 
rial must be considered. 

41 



PRODUCTIVE ACTIVITIES 



This circular loom provides the simplest 
form of weaving proper and introduces the 
regular work. With this, the process is con- 
tinuous and there is no confusion therefore 
from the idea of reversal. There is, however, 
a simpler process of weaving paper strips 
which might precede this and is introductory 
to the whole idea. 

Each child is given one square of coated 
paper to divide into four strips. Place one of 
these strips on the table running from left to 
right. Put a little paste on one end and place 
the end of another strip on the first, white side 
up and running the other way. (See dia- 
gram.) Crease the first over the second strip, 
place a strip under it, paste on this and press 
the first strip down. 

Crease the last strip over the first and place 
a strip across color side up. Paste. Thus a 
mat is made. By alternately adding strips at 
top or side, by the same method (creasing and 
pasting) a mat of any size may be made. For 
the larger size oblong sheets of paper should 
be used so that the strips may be longer. 
Practice may be given with many kinds and 
colors of paper, and widths of strips. Also 
42 



in 




] 





First Steps in Single Strip Weaving. 

The mat may be increased to any size by using longer strips 
ind continuing the process. 



WEAVING 



unequal widths of strips may be used together, 
and space may be left between the strips. 
These small mats may be used as transparen- 
cies, in decorating lantern sides, in the doll's 
house, and sometimes merely for experiment. 

The next step will be the making of a paper 
loom. Use two toned paper and for each 
child provide nine strips of paper. The chil- 
dren proceed as follows: 

From four of these they make a square 
by lapping the ends. 

In the middle of the frame paste a strip 
from front to back and one more strip at each 
side of the center, at equal distances. This is 
now a paper loom. 

Under the middle of the middle strip pass 
another strip. The children will then easily 
place a strip front or back of this strip. (See 
diagram.) The strips are not to be pushed 
close. 

An advance on this is to use ten 
eve opmen . str j;p S tQ ma j^ e t h e mat# Place a 

strip front and back of the middle one. It 
is desirable that .the children in time cut their 
own strips. 

The next step would be to introduce the un- 

43 



PRODUCTIVE ACTIVITIES 



even warp and even filler. In this loom in- 
stead of using the white side of the paper for 
alternate strips it is better to use two shades 
of a color and let these provide the alternation. 
These make pretty transparencies when a 
sheet of tissue or lighter weight painted paper 
is pasted behind the mat. 

In the spacing of the strips much attractive 
variety may be gained. 

The children may also paint or crayon the 
paper used. In this one activity, through- 
painting, folding, cutting, spacing, weaving 
and pasting, the children may combine in a 
simple way many previous experiences. 

This is one of the many simple types of work 
in the kindergarten which have been known to 
carry over into the home. Any child can di- 
vide paper into strips and will find many ways 
of applying and varying the weaving. 

For group work in the kindergarten, 
xT^jP looms may be introduced, made of 
heavy card-board and of light wood. 
These should be of good size and the children 
should be allowed to set the warp over the 
edge or through the holes. 

This makes an opportunity to take care of 
44 



DRAWING 



materials contributed by the children, and can 
be turned into general use when finished. 

This, with the other types of weaving 
spoken of previously, form a sufficient intro- 
duction to the making of hammocks and weav- 
ing on individual looms in the primary grades. 

SECTION VI DRAWING 

Drawing in the kindergarten, 
ory. w k«j e one Q £ ^ most va i ua bi e 

activities, is one that is most often misused. 
This results from two things: 

First: A certain naive enjoyment on the 
child's part, combined with a very slow 
achievement of skill in the art, as such. 

Second: A misunderstanding of aim and 
value on the part of the teacher. 

Therefore, while the teacher feels that it 
carries with it so much expression and pleas- 
ure that it must be educative, her sense of 
its educative value is very vague and there is 
a tendency to use it in a recreative way only. 
It is a temptation to the young or careless 
teacher to occupy the children in this easy 
way while giving big sounding reasons for its 

45 



PRODUCTIVE ACTIVITIES 



existence. Like all other things which do 
not move out, it moves down, and, given pur- 
poseless expression, very often the child does 
less definite and meaningful work at the end 
of the year than in the beginning. On the 
other hand, the conscientious teacher, who be- 
lieves in the growth and purpose in the draw- 
ing, and has put an emphasis on the artistic or 
representative skill of the work, very often en- 
deavors to get results of performance in a way 
that the child is unable to give them naturally. 
Therefore, his spontaneity of expression is 
overlaid with a certain forced imitation of 
external accomplishment, which is really the 
seeing of the teacher instead of his own. 

The child's drawing: must be con- 
Significance. . , , t •. • • 
ceived of as a language; it is, in 

reality, picture writing, and there must be a 
long period of learning to use the language 
before representation proper can be expected. 
When we do not see the object at all, ex- 
cept as a rather indefinite mass, with one or 
two marked characteristics, but no parts as 
such, how can such far away non-essentials 
as proportion, light and shade or perspective 
enter into one's calculation? Where every- 
46 



DRAWING 



thing is an idea rather than a representa- 
tion, and where the mind supplies the life and 
reality if it is not seen, how futile is the at- 
tempt to push a point of view which supplies 
by technique, elements to replace actuality. 

For instance: every child draws both eyes 
in the side of a man's face — he thinks of both, 
and half that face would be only a half man ; 
to supply the idea of the whole by technique 
of representation would be to a child (if he 
could let you know it) awkward and uninter- 
esting. 

Again: once an idea of an additional char- 
acteristic of an object awakens in the mind of 
a child, it assumes such prominence that it 
must for a time have more attention. When 
the chimney on the house comes into view, it 
is given with joyful repetition; the stairs are 
for a while the only reason for drawing houses, 
and the only style of architecture to be seen 
resembles the Swiss Chalet. Fingers, buttons, 
the legs on animals, the windows in houses — 
each for a while absorbs attention, not only in 
number but in size, and only after this seeing 
activity is satisfied, can it be brought into re- 
lation with the rest of the drawing. 

47 



PRODUCTIVE ACTIVITIES 



Now, if the teacher at first can think of the 
drawing as the development of seeing power, 
and then use every opportunity to connect the 
seeing with simple composition, the more com- 
plex elements of representation can afford to 
wait until the mind is ready for them. To a 
large extent, the direction for this drawing 
must be by the individual teacher, but a sug- 
gestive outline is given here. 

„ . . , The material used should be sheets 
Materials. , ... . , 

of manilla paper as large as can be 

obtained and conveniently managed; charcoal 
or India ink with heavy Japanese brushes 
should be used as well as a pencil. All these 
will give a soft broad line, stimulate large 
free movement, and quickly pass into some 
kind of mass representation. Pencils should 
be soft and black with broad points, or 
crayons can be used, when a broad, soft point 
can be obtained. 

While the line should be soft and broad, 
the teacher should not be distressed be- 
cause of the line. We hear much discussion 
nowadays of the necessity for leading the chil- 
dren quickly into mass drawing, and many 
methods have been tried; yet the children re- 
48 



DRAWING 



turn again and again to the outline drawing 

and their natural impulse is to draw in this 

way. This, instead of distressing us, should 

lead us tO consider more carefully the spon- 
taneous activity and to look upon it with more 

respect 

Children need to #et the boundaries of ob- 
jects first and lines represent much moie read- 
ily than mass drawing, unless light and shade 
is used. We can see how Long the race ex- 
pressed itself by line representation, before the 

more complete power was gained, and it is 

very probable that children do not see form 

at first, except in outline. Psychologists tell 

Ufl our power to see things in three dimensions 

develops through motor perceptions and if so, 

children must come to them the same way. 
While these are accumulating, ideas of things, 
which are not representations or pictures of 
things as such, would very naturally he ex- 
pressed by lines. 

The general movement of chil- 
Mo i V ^ f5 * ll i. t i dren's drawing proceeds from the 

and Method. . H l 

drawing Of people tO houses, then 

animals, then people in action, then, last of all, 

Some suit of composition in a very Vague and 

49 



PRODUCTIVE ACTIVITIES 



simple way. This does not mean that a new 
interest absorbs all the attention. The child 
will still draw people while he is drawing 
houses, but his interest very often centers in a 
new idea for a while. 

Two methods should be used to increase the 
child's power to see and to tell what he sees. 
First: the connecting of motor activity with 
the drawing. The feeling of things is a help 
to comprehension and a doorway will be a bet- 
ter doorway after the child has tried to reach 
to the top of it, and has stretched across it. 
A table will have more contrast after the child 
has walked around it and felt its edges. This 
may be carried too far, but as a principle it 
can be widely applied; an original teacher can 
make it most valuable. 

, , Second: the standard develops 
Standards. - , - , , , . 

through the best drawings being 

looked over and discussed, and through the 

children and the teacher drawing for each 

other. In this criticism of the drawings, or 

rather in this friendly discussion, attention 

can be drawn to what is lacking and also to 

the want of proportion and natural contrast 

that is involved. But once again the fact 

50 



DRAWING 



must be emphasized that the action element 
in seeing should be the chief avenue of under- 
standing. 

In the talks about the pictures, if a man has 
no arms attention can be drawn to the fact by 
saying "How do you lift your doll or your 
baby?" rather than by saying "He has no 
arms." Through the emphasis on doing 
things, the structure which makes it possible 
is more clearly felt and observed by the child. 

Again, when drawing attention to propor- 
tion, awaken the observation, instead of speak- 
ing of the fact. If the boy and the man are 
the same size in the picture, instead of saying 
"Men are bigger than boys," notice the differ- 
ence in a suggestive way. Ask the child to 
notice if the big chairs fit the big people and 
the little chairs little ones, or if he has to look 
up in his father's face to talk to him. 

The same method may be used in talking of 
landscape or interior drawing. Naturally 
much of the understanding of the relation of 
trees, bushes, roads, sidewalks, houses, etc., can 
become a part of the experience through walks 
and plays. 

The drawing of animals should be devel- 

5i 



PRODUCTIVE ACTIVITIES 



oped through the nature work in the kinder- 
garten where animals are kept, fed, cared for, 
made companions of and played with. In- 
deed, like everything else in the child's life, 
this activity of drawing is a part of all his ex- 
perience. Life is still a whole and while it 
gets a certain emphasis in expression, now at 
one time and now at another, in reality each 
experience is reinforcing and offering oppor- 
tunity to every other all the time; so that the 
clay work, painting, songs, talk, building, 
walks, stories, everything is constantly helping 
the seeing power. 

As facility and discrimination de- 
J mp hl ' velop, the telling of a story, rather 
than the drawing of a thing, becomes the next 
step, and here the beginning in composition 
can be made. 

Cutting and tearing are related to the 
drawing very closely and offer the same 
possibilities in developing this training. 
Drawing the same picture several times in 
different ways is of value. New ways in tell- 
ing a story, using perhaps the same objects 
and figures, and placing them in new rela- 
tions. It is also well to talk over what shall 
52 



DRAWING 



be put in the picture before it is drawn and 
then to select only two or three things and 
make a picture of those. 

It is very suggestive and valuable if the 
teacher will occasionally have an exercise 
where she draws on the board for the children,- 
discussing with them the picture and how to 
carry out the idea, never forcing imitation, 
but merely letting them watch the perform- 
ance and compose the picture while she exe- 
cutes with greater skill and speed than is 
possible for them. 

Another way to develop the idea of compo- 
sition in connection with this is through past- 
ing exercises where the children are given cer- 
tain units of good form and color and allowed 
to put them together to make the picture after 
free discussion and trying them in different 
relations. 

There is another type of drawing 

Drawing for develo P m g control which should 
accompany, or parallel, this lan- 
guage drawing, or picture writing: a rhyth- 
mic covering of space with steadiness and 
regularity which gives a new type of motor 
control and a new result in experience. 

53 



PRODUCTIVE ACTIVITIES 



This can best be done by the circular move- 
ment, with both hands first, then with each 
separately in birds' nests, caps, balls and other 
things, using as large, free and steady a move- 
ment as possible, all working together with 
the teacher to a rhythm. Sometimes verses 
and rhymes may be used for the music or 
measuring of the rhythm and sometimes 
counting may be used. 

_ , This should then become the filling: in 
Insets* 

of spaces or around spaces that are out- 
lined, somewhat as the children fill in Madam 
Montessori's insets. The filling in of spaces 
is an old activity of the kindergarten, but these 
have usually been of objects that are connected 
with experience such as leaves, animals, balls, 
etc. 

A satisfactory way to make the outlines is. 
of straw-board to be placed on paper and 
filled, and for the second stage a broad line 
made by a glass or stylographic pen with 
India ink. 

This again receives new expression in the 
cutting when the object is to be cut from the 
frame, as the children call it, and both are 
pasted on contrasting colors. 
54 



DRAWING 



The filling of these spaces should be def- 
initely directed, rhythmically executed, and 
should be considered a really technical activ- 
ity; it should result in a soft, smooth surface, 
well and evenly colored with large free lines. 

In all the drawing "puttering" should be 
discouraged and a certain swiftness and large- 
ness of execution should be the standard. It 
is much better that the child should have the 
habit of doing something with a feeling of 
carrying his idea to an end with movement 
and decision, even if he finds it unsatisfactory, 
rather than that he should putter. Let it be 
the habit to make the picture and then to make 
another better and another, rather than to be 
occupied on some little doing for the whole 
period. 

The drawing is so closely related to the 
painting and crayoning that the discussion of 
these activities will now follow. 



55 



PART II COLOR WORK 

The crayoning, painting: and 
Introductory. t • lu i • j * 

paper work in the kindergarten 

should be grouped together under the head 
of Color Work, just as all the paper work 
that is used constructively should be grouped 
with the clay and sand and building and be 
designated Constructive Work. By doing this 
we gain two advantages. For one we come a 
little nearer to the unity of the child's ex- 
perience, and for another, we do away with 
some of the complexity of aim and pur- 
pose which sometimes fills the kindergar- 
ten programme with too much variety. 
If we see one purpose in the activities 
and each one is reenforcing and enrich- 
ing another, the fact that the material 
differs is not important. In this book these 
subjects are discussed in this way; and it 
is hoped that those using the book will get 
the point of view, and see many ways of 
adapting the principles that are not indicated 
here. 

Just as the drawing had to be thought of, 
as a language, in the beginning, the color 
56 



COLOR WORK 



work must be thought of as an avenue of ex- 
perience and experiment for small children. 
Color is delightful and interesting to them 
and they need to be able to use it and enjoy 
it in many ways. The color should include, 
not only the use of paint and crayon, but the 
play with light and reflection, bubbles, shad- 
ows, rainbows and many attractive materials 
in sorting and arrangement, in experience 
with flowers and fruits, and with many color 
tops and toys which they can make themselves. 
Also, if the teacher can make interesting color 
in the kindergarten in simple ways, or in the 
material used for the exercises, there is much 
unconscious education. 

A soft brown scarf on the table 
with a bowl of yellow daffodils 
on it, a wall space covered with a shaded 
golden paper, with softly colored orange 
chains and papers hung upon it, a har- 
mony in pictures carrying the eye through 
some interesting tones, to a spot of em- 
phasis in some brighter tint, all tend to in- 
crease the sensitiveness of appreciation. And 
let us recollect often that the younger we are, 
the more unconscious are we of the influences 

57 



COLOR WORK 



that affect us. The period of the young 
child's education is for the teacher, as for the 
mother, a period of faith. It is nurture. 
"The constant evidence of things hoped for, 
the substance of things not seen." 

Through conditions which nurture, that 
which is as yet dim, unformed and vaguely 
struggling towards expression, the power 
slowly strengthens and at length fulfills itself. 
But it is the conditions which we must con- 
trol and leave much freedom of response to 
these conditions, selecting, emphasizing, en- 
couraging, but not forcing or demanding. 
Froebel has few sentences wiser than this: 
"The period of childhood is pre-eminently 
life for the sake of living; that of boyhood fol- 
lowing is life for the sake of learning." In 
other words, childhood is for the sake of ex- 
perience, for getting sensation, actual contact, 
not for the sake of knowing or of getting in- 
formation, as such. 

w M . „ The color work, then, begins with 
Waterials 

the younger children in the blowing 

of bubbles, the making of tissue paper chains 

and flowers, the sorting of papers, of marbles, 

of beads, and other pretty bright objects, 

58 



COLOR WORK 



In natural activities the enjoyment of flowers, 
and fruits, the play with bright spots of light, 
and refracted lights in prisms of many kinds, 
the play with shadows and with objects seen 
through colored glass; and with any active 
form of color experience which is found to 
be legitimately useful. 

The older children then take up work with 
crayon, or paints, and paper, and begin to 
apply the experience. Of course, these plays 
with color would be used also with the older 
children, but the work with them would be 
connected with the productive exercises. 
Any material which will give experiences of 
light, shadows, transparencies or reflections is 
good to use, and the prisms used should be in 
chains and drops of many sizes and shapes. 
Pretty pieces of colored glass, bowls of water, 
small mirrors or polished surfaces which re- 
flect easily, all make good experimental ma- 
terial. Sometimes, even, books of colored 
tissue samples are interesting to use with other 
kinds of sorting material in giving color ex- 
perience. The soft tints and many colors 
often give much joy to small children. 

These should be used freely by the chil- 

59 



COLOR WORK 



dren, but also part of the play should be 
organized and directed by the teacher. The 
children's attention should also be drawn to 
any experience such as the beautiful appear- 
ance of the stems of flowers seen through water 
and glass, and added delight may be given by 
letting the children experiment by placing 
these vases on mirror or glass. A bit of 
iridescent glass is interesting, especially if 
very thin, and icicles often give very lovely 
scintillating color. 

SECTION I SOAP BUBBLES 

Play with soap bubbles may be 
Materials. \ , . 

made a very educative experience, 

but must be well organized. It is excellent 
physical exercise, as the blowing and the 
throwing of the bubbles expands the chest 
and uses the large muscles of the body. 
Make a strong mixture of soap and water, 
using a good yellow or floating soap. Put 
in a teaspoonful of glycerine for each quart 
of water. Provide clay pipes. A fairly 
large bowl for each half dozen or ten chil- 
dren is better than a number of small bowls. 
60 



SOAP BUBBLES 



These bowls should be put on the tables, but 
the children should be allowed to stand as 
they must have freedom of movement. 

Another point in favor of this exercise is 
that it makes excellent work for out of doors 
and the experience gains both in beauty and 
value by being conducted there. 

At first, as in most activities, ex- 
Method periment should be the order of the 
day, but after a few minutes the children 
should take turns and watch each other, five or 
six standing in line, each one blowing a bub- 
ble. When all have tried they may watch the 
teacher blow large ones. Then she may blow 
one and shake it off, allowing the children to 
keep it in the air by blowing under it without 
pipes. Then they may takes turns at this and 
at blowing the bubbles in the sunshine, where 
the reflections and color can be seen. 

Other exercises for other days may be these 
repeated and extended, also the blowing of 
bubbles in turn while the class counts. An 
excellent opportunity, since the children will 
take long breaths so as to blow to a high count. 
The blowing of bubbles and shaking them off 
to roll down an inclined board, which has 

6i 



COLOR WORK 



been covered with a rough cloth or shawl ; the 
placing of them gently on bottle tops, or on 
the tops of mugs or tumblers — indeed, there 
is no end to the interesting things that can be 
done. But the teacher must always have in 
mind three things : the growth of the activity, 
the physical advantages involved and the op- 
portunity for developing the art side of the 
play. A well organized and happy play with 
soap and water is in any event a great delight, 
but it also contains possibilities for producing 
and making use of color and form in many 
surprising and delightful ways. In this, as 
well as in all the work with color- or sense- 
play indicated above, each teacher will find 
many sources for new suggestions. Analysis 
of color, knowledge about it, is not to be 
sought after. It is love of beautiful color, 
experience with it, joyous delight in it, and 
desire to produce and use it which is the aim. 



62 



PAINTING 



SECTION II PAINTING 

The first work with paint and 
Experimental brugh ^ of course) the washing 

am mg. ^ surfaces with plain color. At 

Free Washes. fim ^ ^ should be mixed for 

the children; for the business connected with 
good mixing is too long and tedious a process 
for little children. A large sized Japanese 
brush is a good tool for the first painting, and 
they should be taught to hold it correctly and 
to use it with a free movement from the first. 
Another element of success lies in good prep- 
aration. 
There must be plenty of water near at hand 

and extra brushes. 

The failure to recognize the value 
Suggestion. of thig additiona i material will often 
break up interest in the activity and carry 
over into the child's work a consciousness of 
effort to get right conditions which should 
not be his concern. Also, the value of sug- 
gestion is lost. 

The child who sees plenty of clean water 
and brushes at his disposal is more liable to 
get the impulse for clean, pure color than one 



COLOR WORK 



who lacks freedom in conditions that produce 
good results. 

Attention to details makes for success. 
This cannot be repeated too often, and with 
regard to this a word may be said of the use 
of appropriate and interesting utensils for the 
painting. 

Just as an attractive piece of paper placed 
under a basket, or flowers carefully arranged 
in a jar instead of a bottle, add much to their 
beauty, so an interesting set of mugs and pitch- 
ers will contribute to the setting and add much 
charm and incentive to the exercise. 

Contrast the usual collection of saucers, 
jelly glasses, or other unsightly tumblers of 
several sizes as receptacles for water, with an 
array of simple strong bowls of one kind, of 
good size and form and soft color. These 
need not be expensive to be beautiful. They 
may be obtained at the department stores at 
almost any time for sums less than ten cents. 
It is through these means that an atmosphere 
is built up around the children. The child 
who can take his own quaint mug and supply 
himself with fresh water from the larger 
vessel like his own, gains not only an impres- 
64 




Color Top No. i. 



Make a circle of strawboard. Put wooden skewer through 
the middle. Color and cut circles to fit on this. These can be 
of one color, or of rainbow stripes or as in B and C — of two 
sizes with contrasting colors — or two slit as in C — and slipped 
under each other half way — of two colors. The spinning com- 
bines the colors. 



PAINTING 



sion, but a delight that gives much inspira- 
tion. 

Order is an essential element of 

JSSGT* art > and uniformit y and beaut y 

of materials encourages the ap- 
preciation of this order. It may be well 
to have practice first with water only be- 
fore using the paint. These exercises in 
washes should be combined with free experi- 
mentation by the children at the end of the 
directed work. Variety may be obtained by 
using different sizes and colors and shapes of 
papers and using them for different purposes. 
Some of these purposes are coloring paper on 
both sides, for units for stringing. Coloring 
paper on both sides (a different color on each 
side) for color tops, making color circles for 
color tops. (See description and diagram.) 
These color circles should be of different sizes 
and can be used in many combinations. 
Coloring papers for construction work, also 
for making fans of two kinds. 

The washes may then be done in two colors, 
and following this in several combinations, 
such as colors side by side, making rainbows. 
These can be used for the same purposes as 

65 



COLOR WORK 



the plain washes. This leads readily into 
drop painting, which should be the next stage. 

The drop painting is an adapta- 
Painti tion of the wash. Small portions 

of the paper are washed in place 
of the whole surface and in these spaces 
the water collects, in this way providing 
more water to play with, rather than more 
space to color. Instead of inducing the 
spread of the brush, encourage the suggestion 
of dropping the paint through the making of 
these miniature pools. For this the paint box, 
or pans, must be used rather than the mixed 
paint. The six color box is the best as the 
child is not confused with too much mixing 
of paint (this also takes too much time for 
young children) and there is a sufficient 
number of colors to satisfy his needs. In the 
first work with the dropping, use medium- 
sized papers. Wash these with sufficient 
water to carry the paint, that is, the paint must 
be able to run freely. As this work is largely 
experimental, the child should be limited to 
one color, but should be allowed to fill the 
brush as often as he feels the need. 

After the paint has been freely dropped on 
66 




Color Top No. 2, with Strings instead of Peg. 
Color differently on each side. Twist threads and spin. 



PAINTING 



the surface, it should be run together by the 
moving of the paper without the use of the 
brush. The gain from the pleasurable ex- 
perience in the new way of mixing water and 
paint gives sufficient interest in the activity 
without bringing about the confusion which 
would come from the mixing of colors at the 
same time that he is mastering a new process. 

The next step, however, would consist in 
the dropping of two colors. With the three- 
or six-color box, any two colors may be used. 

After dropping the paint from the two col- 
ors chosen, the children should then be en- 
couraged to run the spots together and watch 
results. The painting may be considered suc- 
cessful if the color is clear, clean and bright. 

Therefore, as has been said before, the paint 
must not be mixed with the brush, and careless 
dipping must be quickly criticised. Many 
combinations can be obtained through the 
predominance of a certain color, through the 
amount of water used, and through the way 
the colors are arranged to run together on the 
paper. Different shaped papers may be 
used, — for instance, circles, squares, half cir- 
cles, etc. 

67 



COLOR WORK 



Some of the best uses for this kind of paint- 
ing are the following: 

Representations of bubbles, eggs, balls, pa- 
pers for kites, fans, lanterns, backgrounds, 
both circular and square for window trans- 
parencies. Also tops and many of the other 
objects already made in the plain washes. 

When the large sheets have been used, the 
children may .be supplied with outlines of 
definite objects, which parallel the finders 
used by artists, and with the help of these may 
discover the most attractive bits of color on 
the sheet. 

These spaces may then be outlined and cut 
out. If tissue paper be pasted on the back 
of these outlines and these hung in the window, 
they make pretty transparencies, while the 
cuts may be pasted as units. 

Another development of the painting is the 
blobbing work. 

"Blobbing" is the making of a spot 
by laying the brush full of paint flat 
upon the paper. When the brush is lifted, the 
color collects at both wide and narrow ends 
of the spot and gives effective gradations of 
color and form, which lend themselves to 
68 



PAINTING 



many suggestive combinations of nature- and 
art-forms. 

Some skill is developed in the handling of 
the brush. By altering its position, much va- 
riety is made possible. Many good outlines 
of this work have been published as the 
method has been used in England for a long 
time, and is now common in this country. 

Another use of it is the following: A blob 
may be made in the middle of a small piece of 
paper; the paper should then be creased along 
one of the axes of the spot and an interesting 
and unexpected suggestion will result. Lines 
and spots of color of different size and shape 
may also be used in this play experimentation. 

After blobbing is discovered, a more refined 

type of brush work may be done, where the 

children really make an attempt at a small 

artistic effect. 

Borders of green stalks and leaves 

£j°^re j^ little spots of color introduced 

Making. „..,,, 

are effective, and lovely sometimes. 

Also simple mass paintings of flowers or fruits 
in season may be begun. Generally, sugges- 
tions for these will have been found in the 
children's free painting, which should have 

69 



COLOR WORK 



been accompanying the other from the begin- 
ning, as well as in the quaint little forms 
spoken of above. 

The children's free painting should be for 
two purposes — to give a broader expression 
and to provide for the teacher an opportunity 
to watch and learn. She should paint with 
the children at these times, as she draws with 
them, and she should encourage them to at- 
tempt picture making, such as water with 
boats on it, children in green fields, birds, 
and bird houses, etc. Often it is well to give 
them a whole period in which they make these 
pictures with India ink and Japanese brushes 
as the paint goes on so smoothly and the re- 
sult is gained so quickly. The best of these 
may then be repeated in the ink or in color. 

SECTION III CRAYONING 

The crayoning for little children is another 
form of color experimentation. But it leads 
more quickly into decorative representation. 
The crayons are not in some ways as satis- 
factory material as other kinds of media. 
They are too waxy. They break too easily 
70 



CRAYONING 



and the crayon is too tightly wrapped in paper. 
Chalk wrapped in tissue paper, or 
in tinfoil, gives more satisfaction 
than the crayons as generally found. If 
crayons are used, however, they should be 
as large and soft as possible. The paper 
in this work is not as important as in other 
things. Almost any kind of paper will do. 
A glazed paper takes the crayon easily, 
but does not make a satisfactory background. 
A paper of a soft shade is more satisfactory 
than a plain white. A soft green, blue or 
tan, is often pleasing, although for general 
use a yellow cream is the best. In these the 
color background supplies part of the idea. 
A soft blue paper, with horizontal lines on 
it of a darker blue and gray or white upright 
lines, easily suggests ships on the water. A 
soft green, or brown, with lines and spots, sug- 
gests flowers growing, giving opportunity for 
selection of color. It is well to use papers of 
varying shapes — ovals, oblongs, squares and 
circles. These give new suggestions and in- 
terest. The paper may be sometimes cray- 
oned for a background. 

The work in crayoning, as in the drawing, 

7i 



COLOR WORK 



is so free and suggestive in character that the 

Presentation. method of Presentation is of 
much importance. The details 
should be well looked after and the right way 
of working established in the beginning, by 
playful imitation. In the first exercise give 
each child a crayon and a piece of paper. 
Though each child should have only one 
crayon, the crayons of the class may be 
of different colors. The paper, if too large, 
will discourage the child and will induce 
carelessness in the strokes. The child's 
desire to cover the paper will result in 
scratchy and broken lines and a wrong stand- 
ard will be set up in those first undertakings. 
An easy stroke of the hand, back and forth, 
should be sufficient for the width of the paper. 
With playful experimenta- 
Playful t j ons an( j helpful suggestions 

Experimentation. r toto . . 

from the teacher, often arising 

from the children's own remarks, the space 
will soon be smoothly covered and these pa- 
pers may then be used for construction work, 
free cutting, stringing and pasting. These 
crayon papers will serve for many of the pur- 
poses suggested in the painting. They are 
72 



CRAYONING 



especially good for paper plates for festival 
occasions, covers for books, envelopes and 
portfolios, and may also be used effectively 
for toy screens and fireplaces. This crayoning 
moves over to more definite and regular ex- 
pression in the decoration of papers with lines 
and patterns to be used in the making of fur- 
niture and wall paper for the doll houses. 

A simple suggestion of chintz patterns is 
easily obtainable and can be folded into most 
delectable chairs and boxes. (See furni- 
ture.) 

If the children use several colors in combi- 
nation varieties of bands and stripes in 
any free relation, desirable looking rugs 
will be the result. Sometimes interesting 
lines and spots will appear and a word from 
the teacher, pointing to the more conscious 
repetition of these, may often develop a sug- 
gestion into something worth while. 

The making of a spot larger, or smaller, a 
slight change in relations, the connecting with 
lines, or the addition of a line or two, will 
surprise and inspire the child with the un- 
dreamed of possibilities in his own undertak- 
ings. 

73 



COLOR WORK 



SECTION IV TISSUE PAPER WORK 

Another delightful and child-like phase of 
the color work is in the possibilities in the use 
of tissue paper. This has been suggested in 
the section on stringing, but many experiences 
of value may be gained in the making of trans- 
parencies, balloons, or other toys. The trans- 
parencies may be made in several ways. 

The first step is in play with 

Color play. , . , c 

r J square and circular pieces of 

tissue paper (of different sizes and colors 
cut by the children). These should be 
sorted and matched and experimented with 
by letting the light play through them. 
Different colors and two or three pieces 
of the same color may be placed over each 
other, thus mixing colors and giving tints 
and shades of the same color. If different 
sizes are placed over each other, the border 
will show the original color and the center the 
combined color. This may also be reversed, 
giving the children the clear center and com- 
bined outline. The older children should 
cut these papers for themselves. 

After much experimentation with these, 
74 



TISSUE PAPER WORK 



the ones that are most valuable as well as those 

Transparencies. that the children like best ma y 
be selected and hung in the win- 
dows as transparencies. More elaborate ones 
may be made by putting within the sheets some 
pressed flowers, bit of free cutting, or small 
picture contributed by the children, this ap- 
pearing as a shadow in the frame. Interest- 
ing cuts in the enclosing papers may be made, 
through which the light appears. (See sec- 
tion on frames.) 

The balloons make a very interest- 
Toys. 

ing toy for the children. Cut a square 

of tissue paper 10 x 10. Fold this over on 
the diameters and on each corner a triangular 
piece of fairly stiff card should be pasted. A 
hole should then be punched in the middle 
of each card. Four strings should be put 
through these holes and knotted together a 
sufficient distance from the balloon so that it 
can lie flat when folded. Twist the four 
cords together and put them through a 
half dozen circular pieces of card. Tie a 
knot in the end of the cords. When the bal- 
loon is opened and dropped from a height, 
it is a small sailing parachute. This should 

75 



COLOR WORK 



not be made by the children until the material 
for it can be prepared and put together by 
them. 

A good tissue paper plaything for the 
smaller children is a large ball made from the 
crushed squares, or circles, of the paper. A 
long string should then be tied to this, and the 
other end fastened to a long stick. This can 
then be twisted and untwisted on the stick. 
The strings should be knotted, or twisted, by 
the children, and colors may be used in both 
paper and string, singly or in combination. 



76 



PART III PAPER CONSTRUCTION 

This section comprises Strip Work, Past- 
ing, Tearing, Cutting, Folding and Construc- 
tion Work. The material used is different 
textures and weights of paper, and of these 
there should be great variety. 

. , In the early days of the kinder- 
Historical. « . , • i r 1 

garten, the special material for the 
paper work was of two kinds, a thin paper 
for folding and a heavier kind, colored on one 
side, and marked on the reverse side with 
guiding lines, for cutting and pasting. Both 
these papers were 4 x 4 in diameter and the 
formula which controlled their use was the 
old phrase of "In, out and both ways." 

The next step in advance was the enlarge- 
ment of the paper to sizes of four, five and six 
inches, and the omission of the guiding lines. 
It was not customary, however, to use any 
other kind of paper than the special paper 
provided. 

The last, and best, advance has been in the 
use of many kinds, sizes, weights, of paper; 
in the relegation of the more refined pa- 
pers to the cutting and decorating work; and 

77 



PAPER CONSTRUCTION 



to a final step in some process as giving a more 
finished result. 

The old principle of "In, Out, and Both 
Ways" still governs much of the modern 
work, but its application is more in relation 
to the child's experience. Indeed, it paral- 
lels so closely the principle of variety in art 
that it is often used by kindergarten teachers 
from that point of view without their con- 
sciousness of its place in Froebel's method. 
If thoroughly understood, it has a value in 
the fact that being such a simple statement, it 
can be used so as to give a steadiness to the 
work and a variety which stimulates sugges- 
tion and invention. Its application should be 
broader, however, than it was formerly, and 
it should be interpreted according to the es- 
sentials demanded of any expression of art. 

It was used in this way: 

In folding, if the children made a form 
in which all the corners of the paper were 
folded to the center, the next step would be 
to fold all corners back to the edges of the 
paper; the next would be to the edge and 
back again — being both ways — or, in sew- 
ing, if a line were made one space long, the 
78 



PAPER CONSTRUCTION 



next line would be five spaces, and then some 
combination of these, or some arrangement of 
lines, leading from one to the other. Or, one 
line would be made vertical, one horizontal — 
its opposite — and the combination of both a 
new expression of these. 

The principle was too formal, and adhered 
to in too formal a manner; but the idea of 
contrast and variety, through combination, or 
development of their experimental contrasts, 
is suggestive, and gives the children much ex- 
perience in a simple arrangement. 

A small child is in the "contrary suggestion" 
stage of growth where extremes meet and sug- 
gest each other automatically, as their lan- 
guage often shows where one word will be 
used for the idea and its opposite, thus again 
repeating racial history. The teacher, how- 
ever, must understand the wider and more 
fundamental uses of this method; and its re- 
lation to the expression of variety in art and 
construction. She must emphasize, select 
and help the child to organize in interesting 
and regulated, though not rigid and formal, 
ways. 

Another opportunity for the growth of both 

79 



PAPER CONSTRUCTION 



child and teacher lies in the appropriate selec- 
tion of the papers to be used. 
Many kinds of papers should be 
experimented with, but among the best are the 
Bradley and Prang construction papers, the 
Art Poster papers, Manilla and Bogus papers; 
among the cheaper papers, rough brown 
butcher's and wrapping paper. The wrap- 
ping paper of the present day is strong, 
serviceable and attractive, and can be obtained 
at so little expense that nothing better can be 
found. The tools in use are the fingers, scis- 
sors, brush and paste. The paste requires con- 
sideration. 

The pastes recommended are flour paste, 
library paste and gum tragacanth. The fol- 
lowing is a good recipe for flour paste: Dis- 
solve one teaspoonful of alum in one quart of 
lukewarm water. Stir into this, two teacups 
of flour, being particular to beat out all the 
lumps. Stir in as much powdered rosin as 
will lie on a dime and throw in half a dozen 
cloves for pleasant odor. Have on the fire 
a teacup of boiling water and pour it on the 
mixture, stirring well all the time. Let it 
boil, until thick, then put it into an earthen 
80 



PAPER CONSTRUCTION 



vessel and let it cool. When cool, stir in a 

small teaspoonful each, of oil of cloves and of 

sassafras. Cover and keep in a cool place. 

Library paste is often better if mixed with a 

little water. Gum tragacanth can only be 

used with light papers that stick easily. 

There is a difference in the 

Presentation. r . . , 

presentation of the pasting and 

painting. In painting, the atmosphere is 
possible because the material suggests beauty, 
but in the use of paste the work is sticky and 
unbeautiful; it suggests workmanship rather 
than decorative quality: therefore, it is per- 
missible to use for receptacles anything that 
suggests convenience and order. Uniformity 
there should be, but beyond that and cleanli- 
ness it need not go. 

Therefore, small butter plates, or pieces of 
strawboard, cut of a uniform size and shape, 
are satisfactory. Any carelessness in the ap- 
pearance of them is, however, inexcusable. 
Hard wood slats for pasting are often pre- 
ferred to a brush. 



81 



PAPER CONSTRUCTION 



SECTION I CUTTING 

The first work for the little 

AcuSy. ental children should be sim P le P^- 
tice with the scissors, giving 

them the activity of cutting which is always 
pleasurable to them, and the control of a tool. 
This may be done in several ways. The selec- 
tion of the scissors helps, or retards, their prog- 
ress. The best scissors to use are narrow and 
blunt pointed ones, not more than five inches in 
length. The scissors should move freely. If 
the hinge is stiff, it should be well oiled and 
worked until free. It is important, also, to 
teach the children (by imitation, if necessary) 
the best way to use the scissors. Short cuts 
made with the ends of the blades should be 
discouraged. The paper should be placed 
between the blades as near the hinge as pos- 
sible, and the scissors brought together, giving 
a long clean cut. 

Tearing for the little children is not a sepa- 
rate phase of this work, but should be used 
in connection with other forms of work with 
paper. There is a mistaken idea, suggested, 
no doubt, by the apparent freedom of the 
82 



CUTTING 



process, that tearing is especially suitable 
work for young children and should be em- 
phasized. The tearing of pictures requires 
some degree of definite imagery and skill that 
is not possessed by little children, and the pos- 
sibilities of the tearing of strips and fringes is 
soon exhausted, not to mention the fact that 
paper tears easily and unexpectedly and often 
spoils results when the power to control them 
is still weak. 

This rather indefinite tearing of paper into 
bits and strips, and the making of heaps and 
bunches of different sizes, and so forth, is 
really a home occupation and generally more 
enjoyed by very small children. 

In connection with the first work in kinder- 
garten, however, it is a good thing to let the 
children know the material through the tear- 
ing process. The paper that is given should 
be cheap soft paper that tears easily. First 
give the children small pieces of paper and let 
them tear them experimentally. Let them 
tear them in any way desired and put them to 
any use suggested by the pieces: Sometimes 
these may be strung, sometimes pasted and 
sometimes used in forms of play. The next 



83 



PAPER CONSTRUCTION 



papers given to the children may be marked 
with a dressmakers' tracing wheel and the 
children may tear these, thus approximating 
a definite line. 

A simple device to encourage this satis- 
factory tearing is to make holes in the paper 
with a nail or punch and let these give the di- 
rection. About this time the children would 
begin to use the scissors and very often the 
thing which has been torn may then be cut. 
Fringes, or napkins, strips for chains, and so 
forth, make good practice work. 

One of the simplest activities that 
Cuttin 06 IS rewar ding is the cutting of scrap 

pictures, roughly torn. They may at 
first be cut on two sides so that the chil- 
dren have only to straighten two sides. 
From this they would go to cutting four 
sides and to cutting round and oval pic- 
tures. In cutting the scrap pictures, select 
them with reference to certain subjects. For 
instance, one day the pictures would illus- 
trate the family, another, seasonal weather, 
another, workmen, and so forth. The oppor- 
tunity to develop general ideas is large 
and much of the interest in this work is 
8 4 



CUTTING 



contributed by the way it is organized. A 
piece of construction paper should then be 
given each child, prepared in the following 
way: Holes should be punched ready for 
the hanger, and each child's name plainly 
written on the back of the sheet. Of course, 
the color of the card as background would 
have been considered in relation to the pic- 
ture. 

Two purposes of work may be 
Suggestions. , r u .. ™ u ,.-,, 

served by this. I he child may 

take it home ready to hang on the wall, 
or it is prepared as a leaf for a book 
to be taken home later by the child. If 
the hanger is used, the strings (not too fine 
or short) should be ready and each child 
should have his own when the pasting is fin- 
ished. No child should be given more than 
three or four pictures to put on one card, and 
before pasting them a little play with arrange- 
ment should be given. In this way the plac- 
ing is studied, and when the work is finished 
it is the first step on the way to some idea of 
composition. 

This leads naturally into several other types 
of similar work, strip work, unit pasting and 

85 



PAPER CONSTRUCTION 



arrangement of cut pieces in picture form. 
These are practically the same activity with 
different applications, and may be carried on 
as alternate occupations. While there is no 
thought of sequence in them, yet they all con- 
tribute the same training and, though equally 
simple, supply enough variety for a constant 
freshness of interest. 

A few illustrations are given here, but to 
each teacher new suggestions will offer them- 
selves; partly from the children's spontaneous 
combinations, partly from their experience 
and environment, and partly from the teach- 
er's own understanding of what is possible, 
and of the direction which the work should 
take. 

Suggestive exercises in strip work: See 
plates. 






86 



STRIP WORK 



SECTION II STRIP WORK 

In all of these, if a picture can only be made 

attractively with more material, it should be 

reserved for a later exercise; but with most 

things, pictures may be made very simply at 

first and later repeated with more detail. 

For instance, the tent can be made with two 

strips, the ship with two and the window with 

four. Later these may be repeated in a more 

interesting way. 

„ „ , As the children move along in this, the 
Method, .j , , . „ . t f 1 • j i 

idea of difference in length and width 

of strips becomes appreciated. In the ladder, 
for instance, the uneven width of strip will 
make a more satisfactory representation than 
when, as at first, rungs and uprights are equal. 
Begin with strips of about an inch in width, 
and vary the width as the work progresses. 
This also offers an excellent opportunity for 
sorting, allowing the child to sort his material 
before beginning his work, and leaving him 
free to choose the appropriate width for the 
object to be made. 

In arranging, cut pieces of paper, many in- 
teresting pictures may be made, and a better 

87 



PAPER CONSTRUCTION 



effect is sometimes obtained if the work is con- 
ducted as a group exercise. But this can be 
a matter of taste. 

The following are suggestive pictures: 
From a six-inch square make a train. Cut 
the paper in half, supply the children with 
two two-inch circles. Each child makes two 
cars. The teacher makes the engine, adding 
a long trail of smoke of white circles. This 
can be joined with the children's cars and 
pinned up for a few days as a frieze. Then 
the children can take their cards home, or the 
work can be repeated, each child making an 
engine and a car. 

Some pictures can be as follows: 

Suggestive 
Pictures. 

A trolley car, A pigeon house, 

A factory, A boat. 

A house, 

These can be made in several dif- 

S, nit . ferent ways. The children may di- 
Placmg. / J 

vide their paper as above. Iney 

may make them in free cutting or cut pieces 

may be given them to arrange and paste. 

88 



STRIP WORK 



More artistic effects are gained by the last 
method and pictures made in this way should 
become the organizing standard for the other 
work. The more formal type of work, such 
as unit pasting of fruits, birds, animals, etc., 
interestingly spaced and arranged, and on ap- 
propriate backgrounds, has been so thoroughly 
developed in magazine articles that it is un- 
necessary to elaborate it in detail. 

It is enough to say that the unit could be 
developed in three ways: given to the chil- 
dren, outlined for the children to cut, and ob- 
tained from the children's free cutting. In 
the free cutting, the children may repeat the 
cutting of a satisfactory unit of their own, or 
may use one of their own for a pattern, draw- 
ing around it with a heavy crayon, or the 
teacher may select one of the children's and 
use it for a pattern, and sometimes may sup- 
ply a good pattern of her own, allowing the 
children to draw around it. 

In every instance, very simple units should 
be used, and often conventionalized lines will 
produce more decorative and interesting as 
well as more simple forms. Illustrations of 
both types are given here. 

89 



PAPER CONSTRUCTION 



The papers crayoned or painted by the chil- 
dren can often be used for this work and some- 
times soft shaded effects are secured. 



SECTION III FREE CUTTING 

Free cutting should accompany all of this 
work, sometimes in connection with the ex- 
ercise, as in the pasting of the pigeon house, 
where the children can snip triangular pieces 
of paper from a strip for birds. Or, in other 
instances, free cutting would be used alone. 
In the first free cutting of the little children, 
it is easier for them to cut the parts of an ob- 
ject and paste, gradually arriving at the cut- 
ting of the whole thing; for instance, in 
cutting a house, the small child can cut as 
follows: body of house — paste, roof — paste, 
chimney — paste. The older child would be 
expected to cut the house as a whole. 

The teacher should select subjects for cut- 
ting suitable to the child's skill, not requiring 
him to attempt something too difficult in the 
beginning. 

The cutting of men and animals can be de- 
veloped as an addition to the simpler forms 
90 



FREE CUTTING 



at first. In this way the lack of skill in their 
production will not prove discouraging, since 
they are not the predominating feature. 
Later, as skill develops, they may become the 
center of importance. 

Double cutting is work of much 
Cutfci & o> vame > which should be more con- 
sciously cultivated with the older 
children. Younger children have not enough 
experience and imagination developed to 
imagine the other half of the double pic- 
ture, but the older children can soon ap- 
preciate this, and a row of dolls, a row of 
soldiers, instantly become play material in 
the hands of the children. With the kinder- 
garten children the double cutting in general 
should begin with the cutting on a single fold, 
gradually increasing the number of folds as 
power develops. It is well to begin with 
trees as the lines are very simple to follow; 
next very simple outlines of people can be 
made; and all these things can be easily and 
quickly mounted by the children on suitable 
standards of heavy paper and can be played 
with. They make excellent toys for the sand 
table. This moves into interesting double 

91 



PAPER CONSTRUCTION 



cutting of flowers and leaves which can be 
used decoratively, since many units can be ob- 
tained at one cutting. The very beautiful 
leaf cutting which has been well described in 
the Kindergarten Magazine is in direct rela- 
tion to this, making a further variety of it. 

SECTION IV FOLDING 

In folding, as before, the material 
should be of fair size, but many 
kinds should be used, the choice to be dic- 
tated by the power of the children and 
the use of the thing made. The technique 
to be acquired is in the creasing, and in 
the gradual accumulation of folds fol- 
lowing one another. Here the old rule 
should be remembered — that one must not ex- 
pect a child to attend to more than one thing 
at a time. If we require him to perform an 
activity which requires accuracy before he 
is able to do it with accuracy, we actually 
train him in inefficiency; encouraging satis- 
faction on a level below the standard de- 
manded. 

For these reasons, the folding, as folding, 
92 



FOLDING 



should not begin too early; that is, it is at first 
used in connection with other kinds of produc- 
tion, and with the younger children not more 
than one or two folds should be put in one 
object. 

This is one of the reasons why cutting 
should be used freely with the folding. A 
chair or a bed which has a few creases put in 
it, then one or two cuts, and these fastened, is 
much easier to make than the same chair or 
bed entirely folded. Also, the teacher may 
with impunity fold the first steps in a prob- 
lem, allowing the children to learn to fold the 
last one first, proceeding backward, thus in 
time accomplishing the entire process. The 
children in this way are not wearied in the 
beginning by the great undertaking. It be- 
hooves the teacher to analyse her work very 
thoroughly in order that she may discover in 
each case the point of difficulty and find the 
simplest method to reach the desired end. 

Illustrations: For instance, in 

TuethlT foldin S the S r0und f0rm 0f the 
small ship set: No. r, fold the 

diameters, No. 2, fold one diagonal, No. 3, 

bring the diagonals together and fold the 

93 



PAPER CONSTRUCTION 



double pocket. From this many pretty folds 
may be produced. The point of difficulty 
is to fit the diagonals neatly together, 
with the pockets easily coming into place. 
The whole matter is solved if the children are 
carefully taught to fold the diagonal on the 
opposite side from the diameters, that is, to 
turn the paper over before folding the diag- 
onal. This should be given first with paper 
differing on the two sides, then alike, so that 
true independence may be gained. 

In the folding of the small barn, from six- 
teen squares, the difficult point lies in getting 
the gable end laid flat. This should be care- 
fully studied and analyzed and different 
methods tried until the simplest and most di- 
rect is discovered. It should then be repeated 
until the child can do it with ease. 

To give interest to the repetition, use many 
kinds and sizes of paper, until each child has 
many of one thing folded. When he has 
gained real ease in making the object, let him 
try variations of it, using papers of different 
dimensions to put the same folds in, or other- 
wise changing it. 

In making the barn, a simple way of giving 
94 






FOLDING 



practice in folding the gable is as follows: 
Fold one edge about to the center (but an 
accurate measurement is not necessary), turn 
the paper over and fold the crease in the 
middle along the shorter diameter, then fold 
the two edges to this line; now push out the 
two small squares on each side, thus making 
the two gables. This may be used for boats, 
houses, barns and so forth. 

The paper may be given to the children 
folded into sixteen squares, only requiring 
them at first to make the barn, but not the 
preliminary folds. This well illustrates the 
point as mentioned before. 

A final step in the folding should 

of e Se]der nt be t0 have the children make for 
themselves squares and oblongs 

from large pieces of paper, showing how 

to get a square by folding from a corner 

to the edge, and that two squares make 

an oblong. They can then prepare paper for 

themselves at home. In this occupation many 

short series of the same thing are better than 

the old way of making many things from one 

foundation. A series of boats, a series of 

boxes, a series of caps, or of tents, is more 

95 



PAPER CONSTRUCTION 



suggestive and interesting than one fold such 
as the old "salt-cellar" foundation resolved 
into other forms. 

A few illustrations of these series will fol- 
low: 

From the making of boxes and boats it is 
easy to enter on regular construction ; in fact, 
as we said before, some forms of simple con- 
struction are really easier than folding proper. 
The best introduction to the construction work 
is through the Davis "Cutting and Folding," 
published by the Chicago Kindergarten Col- 
lege, which is exceedingly simple, very inter- 
esting and full of suggestion and variety. The 
paper folded into nine or sixteen squares is 
also good, and at first the children should re- 
ceive the paper folded into the number of 
squares required, afterwards making the folds. 
The dressmakers' wheel may be made use of 
here, making lines which may be cut out 
by the children. Houses, barns, furniture, 
sleds, and many other things may be made and 
various patterns are here given. 

PoTsibSies. ? ut . the teacher must also kee P 
in mind that the fundamental aim 

is to help the children to achieve true in- 
96 






FOLDING 



dependence, to do it for themselves and to 
see possibilities of variations. Therefore, 
however simple the first steps, and though 
help may be given here, this help must in time 
be withdrawn and the child must little by 
little discover and acquire the whole process. 

A good way to make use of the construction 
playthings is in the playhouses; and the best 
way for kindergarten children to make these 
is by using four sheets of construction card for 
three walls and a floor. These may be tied to- 
gether so that they will stand, but can also be 
folded and laid in the bottom of a box in 
which the furniture is kept. Wall paper, pic- 
tures and rugs may be made, and while each 
child begins with one room, other rooms may 
be added. Then from the double cutting, the 
family may be cut and colored and a very de- 
lightful plaything is thus made by the child. 

A few words on frames for transparencies, 
or pictures, will end this section. 

The color work for the transparencies has 

been spoken of in the section on color. The 

directions for these frames are as fol- 

£t8<1U68 

lows : Take a square sheet of paper — 
fold and crease one diameter. Do not open, 

97 



PAPER CONSTRUCTION 



but fold in half again. Open the last fold and 
fold one short edge to the other. Open and 
cut from the center on folded edge, as far as 
the first line. Open and cut on the diameters 
right and left the same distance. Fold back 
the triangles. This gives a square opening. 
Fold the four edges over to the opening. 

The next one made is the same, only folded 
on the diagonals. 

Put two of these together to serve as trans- 
parencies, or frames. 

Much variety in these can be obtained 
by folding the edge over in different ways. 

A series of circles may be used in the same 
way. In all of these the edge may, or may 
not be folded over. (See plate, page 139.) 

SECTION V SIMPLE PROBLEMS 

A form of puzzle play is here presented, 
which in the matching and putting together 
of pieces, somewhat resembles the "Sliced 
Animals," so much enjoyed by children. 

In fact where the surprise element is strong 
there are few activities that do not have a 
peculiar attraction for children. 
98 



SIMPLE PROBLEMS 



Added to this there is in the following sug- 
gestions a new delight that comes to each 
child from making his own. 



A square folded and cut into six pieces, 
i. Fold and cut into half (two equal 
oblong pieces). 

2. One half cut lengthwise into two 
oblongs. 

3. Other half cut into two squares. 

4. Cut one square into two triangles. 

5. Cut one triangle into two smaller 
ones. 

Put together and paste on a suggestive back- 
ground. 



P 
U 

z 
z 

L 
E 
S 



2 



Directions. *' F ° ld and CUt S 3 uare int0 tw0 
triangles. 

2. Fold and cut one triangle into boat trap- 
ezoid and one triangle. 

3. Fold small triangle into two triangles. 
Five pieces. 



99 



PAPER CONSTRUCTION 



3 

i. Fold and cut four inch square into two 
oblongs. 

2. Cut one oblong piece into two squares. 

3. Cut one square into two oblongs. 

4. Cut four triangles from the other square. 
Seven pieces. 

Another similar type of play may be carried 
on at a fitting time, with equal satisfaction. 

Supply each child with an outline of some 
simple familiar object, and let him fill in the 
space with brush or crayon — or if advisable 
he may draw around a pattern of the same, 
and cut out the object himself. 

f After the forms have been crayoned or 
painted, draw a few broad lines on the back 
of them, and let the children cut on these to 
get the pieces. Care should be taken that the 
lines to be cut result at first in comparatively 
few pieces to be put together. 

There is perhaps no one object more uni- 
versally useful or welcome than the 
Envelopes r j • -*u 

envelope, and an acquaintance with 

it is very early begun, in association with 
some particular holiday, or other festive oc- 
casion. 
100 



SIMPLE PROBLEMS 



The breaking of the seal or 

fndTurposes. tie is . an ex P eri ence pleasur- 
able alike to old and young, and 
the mystery often centering about it delights 
the children and carries over in a strong de- 
sire to make them. 

They serve such a multitude of purposes 
and call up so many fascinating ideas, that it 
becomes a simple matter to select those to be 
made, that are well within range of the child's 
growing power and appreciation. 

They are so much in line with regular con- 
struction that very legitimately they may be 
made for immediate occasions demanding 
them. 

It is a long way from the crude unfinished 
popcorn bag or sack to the dainty sachet en- 
velope or case for Christmas; but the steps in 
between are very happily taken if they result 
as they should, at every turn, in something 
appropriate to the idea controlling them. 

Whether it be Hallowe'en, a birthday, or 
the long looked for surprise wrapped up in a 
valentine, that occasions their use, the experi- 
ence in making and receiving them is not soon 
forgotten, and if there is an occasional in- 

IOI 



PAPER CONSTRUCTION 



dulgence in melting the wax for a selected 

seal by the light of a little toy candle, the joy 

is increased and the memory of it vivid and 

lasting. 

Directions for making postal card 
Directions. , - , u , 

envelope four and three-quarters by 

twelve inches. 

Japanese Manilla used. 

i. Place paper with long edge in front. 

2. Fold front edge to back edge, open. 

3. Fold front edge to middle crease, open. 

4. Fold front edge to last crease, open. 

5. Repeat same with back edge. 
Short edge in front. 

Fold over about three-quarters of an inch 
for flap. 

Fold this double edge to back edge, open. 

From long edges cut in one center crease, at 
right and left, as far as first line. 

Cut strip off from either half, preferably 
the one with flap at first, as this does away 
with cutting out the small squares; paste. 

Postman's Bag: 

Six by eleven inches — tan construction 
paper — sometimes made larger — of drilling 
or cambric for the children to wear. 
102 



SIMPLE PROBLEMS 



Short edge in front. 

Fold front edge to back edge, open. 

Fold front edge to crease, open. 

Fold back edge to last crease under flap. 

Repeat steps in postal card envelope — Nos. 
I, 2, 3, 4 and 5. 

Fold paper lengthwise, and on folded edge 
of flap make two parallel cuts. Carry a strip 
of a darker shade through this, for strap. Fas- 
ten with tongue or in any other characteristic 
way. 



E 
N 
V 
E 
L 
O 
P 
E 
S 



A simple sequence of four envelopes, 
in which an oblong piece of paper 
folds into a square envelope, and 
vice versa. 

Seven and three-quarters inches long, 
and five inches wide is a satisfac- 
tory size (one-half inch more is re- 
quired for flap). 



Repeat steps one, two, three, four, five in 
postal card envelope, fold short edges together 
and paste. If made of Defender paper, and 
handle added, it serves for a purse or bag, as 
well as for envelope or case. 

103 



PAPER CONSTRUCTION 



A six-inch square gives an oblong envelope 
of appropriate size. 

An attractive little sachet envelope may 
easily be made from a five-inch square of 
heavy striped or figured tissue paper. Crease 
the diagonals. Fold three corners to center — 
turn the remaining one back on other side — 
fold crease made to opposite edge, and turn 
flap over. A small case should be made to 
hold the powder. Tie across with ribbon or 
cord or close with pretty seal. The circular 
paper lends itself quite as satisfactorily to the 
making of these forms as the square, if worked 
by the same formula. 

Another very pleasing sachet is made by 
placing the diagonal of one square upon the 
diameter of the other, and folding back the 
eight triangles thus produced, on opposite 
sides. 



104 



SIMPLE PROBLEMS 



Coated Paper 



Fold Diagonals. 



B 
O 
A 
T 

S 

E 

R 

I 

E 

S 



i. One corner folded to center, 
crease. Lines may be emphasized 
by crayoning. 

2. Repeat and cut on center line, 
from side. Fold back for sail. 

3. Repeat number one and cut on 
center line from opposite corner. 
Fold one of the triangles back for 
smaller sail. 



2 

1. Fold square into half — white side up — 
open. 

2. Fold front edge to center crease. 

3. Turn paper over — fold short edges to- 
gether — open. 

4. Fold short edges to center crease, open. 

5. Fold small square at right and left, diag- 
onally. 

6. Crease the rest of the paper into two tri- 
angles for sails. 

105 



PAPER CONSTRUCTION 



3 

i. Repeat to number four (do not open). 

2. Push out the small squares into triangles. 

3. Fold other half of paper into triangle 
for sail. 

4 

„. ,. 1. Fold two opposite corners to 
Directions. 

center crease. 

2. Fold these short edges together. 

3. Place long edge in front, and fold each 
half of this edge back on center crease for 
sails. 

4. Fold front corner to center crease for 
boat part. 

A more difficult way of obtaining same re- 
sult as number four. 

Fold on both diameters. 

Turn paper over and fold on one diagonal. 

Open and lay on table, diagonal crease up. 

Press down center with finger. 

The diagonals will spring toward each 
other, hold them together, and press down the 
two squares. 

Fold the squares back to show sails. 

Fold front corner to center, for boat. 
106 



SIMPLE PROBLEMS 



5 
i. Fold one diagonal. 

2. Place long edge at right side. 

3. Fold front corner to left hand corner, 
crease. 

4. Turn paper over and fold front corner 
to center crease. 

The sixteen square folding offers unlimited 
possibilities for the simple construction of 
boxes and baskets, and their purposes are with- 
out end. Construction paper should be used 
for these. 

With a little ingenuity on the part of the 
teacher, and a proper respect for the child's 
capacity and growth, the old may often be 
made to seem new by the introduction of a few 
new features. Many familiar steps may 
be taken by the children themselves, and this 
sense of mastery over material encourages ex- 
periment along original lines. 

As for example: The shirt-waist box 
folded from a six or eight inch square. 

From any two opposite edges cut in one 
square, on middle crease; at right and left of 
this, make similar cut. Paste the three 
squares over each other for end of box. The 

107 



PAPER CONSTRUCTION 



four squares left form the cover, which is re- 
enforced by pasting the two end squares back 
upon it. 

A new step can be introduced as fol- 
lows: Before folding sixteen squares, 
as foundation for shirt-waist box, turn over 
about one-half inch on one edge and proceed 
as before. The edge turned forms the over- 
lapping of the cover. This calls into play new 
ideas, and starts suggestion as to a means of 
fastening the cover down — possibly by weight- 
ing it with a bead or button, may be by closing 
it with strap or clasp. In the sixteen square 
box fold, two opposite edges are cut in a 
square at the corners, and the small squares 
pasted over the sides. An advance on this is 
to cut out the corner squares, and passepartout 
the edges together. An eighth of an inch 
added to size of square, folded in same way, 
provides a cover. 

This made either way is a serviceable box 
for seeds and small material. 

_. .. By cutting: the corner square 
Directions. ,. f1 ° * , . - 

diagonally and fastening the cor- 
ners so the triangles are thrown out, we have 
what is sometimes called the "Butterfly Box." 
108 



SIMPLE PROBLEMS 



The slanting edges are often curved so as to 
give the effect of wings. 

Another form of box with handle is made 
by cutting off one line of four squares. Fold 
two narrow edges together, and from closed 
edge, on center square, make four small cuts. 
Turn paper around, and from open edges 
cut in each side of center square to first crease. 
Open, paste end squares as before to make 
box. Divide piece of four squares into two 
strips. Face the strips to each other, and cut 
into half the strip. Fit the slits into each 
other and carry the handle through the open- 
ings previously made in the bottom of the box; 
paste. 

Fold into half from open edges cut in one 
square on center line. Repeat same on oppo- 
site diameter. Fold pieces in as far as cut, 
giving diagonal crease. The three small 
squares, folded into triangles and pasted back, 
give a pleasing effect, or the triangles may be 
cut off and the sides joined in any way de- 
sired. Sometimes it is interesting and profit- 
able to use the pieces cut off for decorative 
material. 

A wider range of choice is offered, if run- 

109 



PAPER CONSTRUCTION 



ning parallel with this we occasionally substi- 
tute for the square an oblong piece of paper, 
and sometimes when using square paper, fold 
and cut on the diagonals in practically the 
same way. 

The set of furniture here pictured is con- 
structed from the same sixteen-square folding. 
The square box fold gives the bed part proper, 
and that part of the bureau containing the 
drawers. From two squares, an eighth of an 
inch smaller, cut off line of four squares and 
fold as before ; these give the smaller boxes or 
drawers. 

Divide paper in half and paste one-half at 
back of bed and the other half at the back of 
bureau. The shirt-waist box reversed, and 
cover folded back, provides the settee. For 
the clock and screen fold two edges of the six- 
teen square fundamental form back to center 
and stand upright. Add face and pendulum 
to one, and some simple decoration to the 
other. 

Sometimes these may be more satisfactorily 
folded from 6x8 oblong pieces of paper. 

Another step in the work offering a pretty 
variety, lies in the making of these boxes and 
i io 



SIMPLE PROBLEMS 



baskets, from circles. Considering all that 
has been said, a few hints in the making of 

these will suffice. The size of 
Circular Boxes , u • T . , : 7 / 

and Baskets. the circle > the number, and depth 

of the cuts depend largely upon 
the purpose for which the boxes are intended. 
A five-inch circle folded and cut in the fol- 
lowing manner is a convenient size for collar 
buttons, studs, etc. Fold into halves, then 
into quarters, open to half, fold open edges at 
back to base line, crease, open, cut from open 
edges on center line to crease. 

Repeat same on opposite diameter; fold 
pieces back as far as cuts will allow. The 
edges may be treated in any way desired. 
Lacing is generally preferred. 

A nine-inch circle folded into eighths and 
cut to the half-indicated by folding center 
point to middle of curved edge, gives sufficient 
depth for a serving basket. If the sides of 
the pieces are cut straight, and holes punched, 
a cord may be run through long enough to 
allow the basket to open and lie flat. 



in 



CONCLUSION 

In the foregoing pages, the term Play has 
been used frequently, but always in a connec- 
tion that implies some other use than the ordi- 
nary meaning of dramatic or "pretend-play." 
In closing the pages of this small book, the 
authors wish to add an explanatory word of 
the sense in which this play is to be under- 
stood. 

Too often with young children, the idea of 
their play is given a meaning of such limited 
scope that the true nature of their delightful 
activity is misunderstood. 

Play is, in reality, any activity of which the 
process is so much enjoyed, that though the 
end is realized, we do not hasten the process 
to reach the end. Also, there is one other 
requirement. There must be a feeling of 
choice, a certain self-impelled interest and op- 
portunity in the activity. If these two condi- 
tions are fulfilled, others may go or come, be 
present or absent, but the activity will be play. 
When the process is not delightful in itself, 
but becomes somewhat arduous; when there 
is no sense of self-impulsion; when it is per- 

113 



CONCLUSION 



sisted in, not for itself, but for the end it 
seeks, it is work. And work is a good thing, 
but for the young child, to whom the world 
is "so new-and-all," whose purposes are so 
closely related to his activities, whose sense of 
values is almost entirely in activities and not 
in results, it will be very difficult to awaken 
an interest in work. And work done by 
means of device or purposes dressed up, to 
entice the child to work towards them, are just 
as detrimental to the true spirit of work as 
the equally foolish method of endeavoring to 
make a process the only interest to the child, 
and thus force the spirit of play, when he 
could appreciate the end in view, and the 
satisfaction of persisting in endeavor to reach 
it. 

Froebel did not advocate a method of play 
in education. What he advocated was edu- 
cation through self-activity. Through the 
type of activity, which is natural to the indi- 
vidual in any stage in his growth. His reason 
for advocating play in the kindergarten was 
because during the first years of life, this is 
the spontaneous and instinctive type of activ- 
ity, natural to the young child. He did not 
114 



CONCLUSION 



advocate this for all education, but in nothing 
has he been more misunderstood than in this. 

He says, "The activities of the senses and 
limbs of the infant, is the first germ, the first 
bodily activity, the bud, the first formative 
impulse. Play, building, modeling, are the 
first tender blossoms of youth, and this is the 
period when man is to be prepared for future 
industry, diligence and productive activity. 
"Education of Man," section 23, p. 11. 

Having discovered the natural incentive to 
self-active endeavor for the small child, he 
hoped to follow this by the discovery of the 
slowly developing incentives, suitable to the 
stages of growth following. Play was to him 
a method for little children, expressive of a 
principle of education, and as such it should 
be used. 

This has been the point of view in this book. 
These are gateways to Art and Industry, nat- 
ural avenues which if hopefully and joyously 
followed will lead to earnest achievement in 
these more serious undertakings. 

One more word should be added to this. 
Boynton says, in his review on children's 
books, that the true test of a child's book is 

115 



CONCLUSION 



whether the adult can also enjoy it; and the 
best children's books stand this test. What 
grown person fails to enjoy equally with the 
child, a beautiful folk-tale, or such a classic 
as Mopsa the Fairy, or Alice in Wonderland. 

Froebel says in his "Pedagogics," page 17, 
"The child's employments as well as the means 
and objects of such employments (the plays 
and playthings), are too little, indeed not at 
all, recognized in their deep, true signifi- 
cance; are too little comprehended in their 
general human interest and spirit. The conse- 
quence of this is that these means of play offer 
too little, indeed, nothing at all, to the adult 
for the nourishment and continued develop- 
ment of his or her own life. Hence, aside 
from the duty of older people to children, it 
seems to the adult a waste of time to employ 
himself or herself with fostering the child's 
impulse to activity, by means of and in its 
plays." 

This same test then, can and should be ap- 
plied to work planned for young children. 
It must have childlike, simple, playful inter- 
ests and characteristics, but must also exist in 
obedience to those eternal principles of beauty, 
116 



CONCLUSION 



truth, and use, which are always old, yet al- 
ways young. Only thus will they provide 
real food for the mysterious and embryonic 
spirit of childhood, those seed possibilities 
that are as truly there in the germ, as they are 
in the acorn or the seed kernel. 

And only thus will they win from us, slow- 
moving and matter-of-fact grown-ups, the 
sympathy and understanding, the serious con- 
sideration, which can give their true fruition 
to these "weak puttings-forth of the child 
soul," yet so filled with "prophetic worth." 



117 



PLATES 



PART I, Section, II, page 20 




Stringing of Parquetry Circles and Squares. 
Or flower forms with straws. 



121 



PART I, Section II, page 20 




Tissue Paper Stringing. 



122 



PART I, Section II, page 21 




DeveloPxMENT of Paper Link Chains. 
Order moves from right to left. 



123 



PART I, Section II, page 22 




Clay Stringing of Various Forms. 
124 



PART I, Section II, page 23 




Seed Stringing. 
125 



PART I, Section III, page 28 




Knotting. 



126 



PART I, Section IV, page 35 




127 



PART I, Section IV, pages 35-36 




Free Sewing. 




Free Sewing Frame. 
128 



PART I, Section IV, page 37 




Over-Edge Sewing. 



129 



PART I, Section V, page 44 




Paper Loom Strips Woven In. 




Advanced Weaving in a Variety of Materials. 
130 



PART I, Section VI, pages 51-52 




Posters. 



131 



PART II, Section II, pages 65-66 



▼ ▼*▼▼ 



Wash in Two Colors. 



Uu 



Stripe Painting. 



y®0'£* fc 



Drop Painting. 



132 



PART II, Section II, page 68 




133 



PART II, Section III, page 72 




134 



PART II, Section IV, page 75 




Pressed Flowers Framed. 
Tissue Paper Transparencies. 




Painted Transparencies. 

1. The three fundamental colors. 

2. Six prismatic colors. 



135 



PART III, Section I, pages 82-86 




Strip Pasting. 

136 




Strip Pasting. 
137 



PART III, Section II, page 89 





4tHpH|j| : fpWWB^ i 



Units — Free Tearing, No. i. 
Units — Presented, Nos. 2. and 3. 



138 



PART III, Section IV, pages 95-98 




Sequence of Boats. 




Folded Frames. 
139 



PART III, Section IV, page 97 




Furniture Construction. 



140 



PART III, Section V, page 102 




i. Postal Card Envelope. 

2. Postman's Bag. 

3. Letter Case. 




Festival Envelopes and Sachets. 
141 



PART III, Section V, pages 107-111 




Cardboard Construction— Baskets and Boxes. 
142 



019 823 200 2 



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